A Wedding To Remember
by Chaoticlover
Summary: Sequel to New Guardian in Town. Charlie and Sasha are getting married, but a new threat rears it's ugly head.
1. Heroes Engaged

Chapter 1: Heroes Engaged

It has been three months since Charlie and Sasha gained their powers to take down Belladonna and saved not only Jake, but the whole world as well. It has also been three months since Charlie proposed to Sasha to be his wife and he couldn't be happier.

"Boy, Itch, I can't believe it; I'm finally getting married to Sasha," said Charlie in a joyful tone.

"Yep, you're one lucky dog, Charlie," added Itchy.

Unknown to them, a brown, blue, and white snake - like creature was stalking Charlie and Itchy; watching from an alley two feet away from Charlie and Itchy. Charlie began feeling like he was being stalked by something.

"Hey, Itch, you ever get the feeling like you're being watched," asked Charlie as the creature slithered closer and closer.

Suddenly, the snake – like creature popped out from behind a lamp post and wrapped itself around Charlie. Charlie then heard giggling from the creature while trying to get out of its grip, he immediately recognized that giggle anywhere.

"Okay Sasha, I know it's you, you can stop now," Said Charlie.

"Oh darn, I thought I had you that time," Said Sasha as she changed back to her regular self.

Itchy knew what was about to happen, so he had to leave Charlie and Sasha to their alone time together.

"I'll see you later at the bachelor party, Charlie," yelled Itchy.

"Wouldn't miss it," Yelled back Charlie.

"Alone at last," Sighed Sasha as she wrapped her elongated arms around Charlie.

"You got that right, ready for a ride," Asked Charlie in a sly tone as Sasha blushed slightly at her fiancée's suggestion as she slowly and tenderly walked in circles around him.

"Well maybe I am, and maybe I'm not..." Said Sasha, as she kept walking her legs began to get longer, making it possible for her to walk a complete circle around Charlie with her rubber body surrounding him on all sides.

"I still want to know exactly how you knew it was me sneaking up on you and what you'd do if you found yourself up against a rubber mutt like me," Said Sasha.

"Belladonna has some stretchy or at least some shape - shifting powers of her own and it pays to be prepared, maybe if you can figure out a way to get me into a bed I'll agree to join you there?" Said Sasha with a flirty wink, as she knew Charlie was even newer to his elemental powers than she was to her elastic ones.

"Does this answer your question?" Said Charlie as he swept Sasha off her feet and the white dot on his black form - fitting suit turned into the elemental symbol for Wind while his gloves turned yellow - green then just took off.

"Hold on, you're in for the ride of your life, Sash." Said Charlie as Sasha elongated and wrapped her arms around Charlie's neck.

Sasha instantly felt the wind blast against her body as Charlie took off flying, it pressed down on her so hard that the elastic dog girl's body began to be compressed slightly.

"Hey do you think you could slow it down some?" She asked worried that she'd end up getting squished smaller than a chihuahua or flatter than a pancake if they kept moving at this rate.

In response to Sasha's request Charlie promptly cut his speed in half and twist his body around slightly maneuvering so that he was flying upside down but at the same time giving Sasha who was tightly secured to his body by her elastic limbs a perfect view of the busy city passing by beneath them. It would have been immensely frightening if it hadn't been for how beautiful it was (and the minor fact that Sasha knew she could easily survive the fall any number of countless ways).

"You wish is my command..." Charlie teased her slightly before taking a moment to properly get his bearings even while flying upside down and setting a course for their newly shared home.

"So how exactly did you manage to afford this place anyway?" Asked Sasha as she playfully climbed onto the couch atop which sat her favorite blue pillow temporarily being held at Charlie's place in order to make sure she didn't loose track of it.

"Hey a rougish trickster like me can't be expected to give away all of his secrets even when he's working for the good guys, now can he?" Charlie playfully replied before sliding over to the couch and rubbing himself up against one of Sasha's dangling legs.

"So you know, it occurs to me that this is the third time you've been here... our third date if you will. So... do you know what I think we should do together here to celebrate the fact that we're going to be getting married tomorrow mourning?" He added while throwing in a very slow licking of his lips, involving his tongue traveling a complete 12 hour cycle around his lips.

"Sadly mind reading wasn't one of the powers that I've gained recently, though luckily I don't think that I need it at the moment." Sasha answered him. She coiled her hind legs into a spring, bounced off the couch and landed on the floor before slowly walking away from Charlie with her back to him while her tail worked its way up his neck from his chin out to the very end of his muzzle.

Charlie of course followed along after her like a lovesick puppy as she did a complete circuit of the room being careful to close all the doors. Once she'd done that however she seemed to back to random pacing and after a minute or so of it he'd finally had a bit more than he could take quietly.

"So what next, or are we just going to keep walking around here till we both drop unconscious from exhaustion?" He asked his tail going straight in irritation.

"Well I just wanted to make sure that we'd really have the place all to ourselves..." Sasha replied once again pulling off that trick with her tail that made Charlie's heart thump loud enough for someone in the next room over to hear.

"But now that its just the two of us, and I'm sure that we'll have plenty of time to ourselves, I think it's about time I slip into something a little bit more appropriate to the mood." As she spoke Sasha let loose with a long howl and then her body began to transform.

First were her paws which went from being dainty little pads to huge things that were at least as large as your average pancake. Her limbs began to thicken, and her tail lost its rather noticeable curl straightening out. Her entire body was struck with a series of shakes as it broaded outward, and for a few moments her teeth became so large that they stuck out at odd angles until her muzzle caught up with her. All told the process took about ten seconds and when it was done it seemed as if Sasha had become half again as big and twice as heavy.

"Wolf!" Gasped Charlie dramatically surprised by his loves choice of transformation. The she wolf in front of him that Sasha had become blinked her golden eyes coyly at him.

"Don't go shouting it all over the place darling, if you do it too frequently than nobody will believe a word you say!" She teased him while sounding like a southern belle.

"Oh, really?" Responded Charlie as the white dot on his suit changed into the elemental symbol for Forest while at the same time, his gloves turn green and he began to transform into a wolf himself, Charlie's transformation from a dog to a wolf astonished Sasha.

"So, what do you think, Mama Wolf; am I a hunk or what?" Asked Charlie in a sly sexy tone as Sasha astonished by how he managed to change into a wolf like she did.

"Charlie, how did you do that? I thought I was the only one who could Shape - Shift into things," Asked Sasha in a shocked tone.

"This is one of my Forest Powers: Animal Transformation, I can only transform into animals and to be honest I was hoping you'd change into a wolf cause I really wanted to try it out, so what do you think?" Responded Charlie as he posed in his new wolf form.

"You look so handsome," said Sasha as she was circling around Charlie while she brushed her tail against his chin.

"And you look so enchanting, you look more elegant as a wolf, sweetheart," Complemented Charlie as he was smitten by Sasha's wolf form. "Of course, you always look beautiful, Sasha, don't take me wrong. I'd love you even if you looked like a cow... My, if you were a cat, I'd still be crazy for you."

While Sasha and Charlie continued their little couple session, Annabelle was a bit busy in Heaven, preparing the miracle badges she'd need to give to all the guests. Since, normally, only spirits or Living Angels are allowed in Heaven, any normal flesh-and-bone guest would need to wear a miracle badge to grant entrance; besides serving as an invitation of sorts, it would protect the guests from the otherwise adverse conditions for the mortal flesh. Only angels could walk in the clouds, move freely around Heaven, and stand the Heavenly Music and light that energized the souls yet could be too much for a living being; any non-spiritual creature entering Heaven would either get teleported instantly back to Earth or, if by pure will force, this creature insisted in staying, he or she would suffer horrible pain.

At the same time, Annabelle also needed to be careful when giving the badges; even if, by default, all dogs could enter Heaven when dying, not all of them were responsible enough to keep a badge for long, as it could grant certain magical powers to the wearer, regardless of the species, so Annabelle had to be sure each badge could work only with the designed guest, meaning these badges had to be prepared individually and get all the potentially dangerous magic effects deactivated. Last thing she needed was one of Belladona's agents stealing a badge and entering Heaven as a guest.

Unknown to Annabelle, Belladonna, at that moment, was working exactly on that issue, finding a way to introduce one of her agents to the wedding without needing a miracle badge. Belladonna knew it would take very powerful magic, but she already had the idea to get the necessary elements; basically, the only way to enter Heaven was with Heavenly Power, something Belladonna obviously lacked, but she knew Annabelle would need to give away several badges to normal dogs so they could attend the ceremony; so many badges, in fact, that Belladonna would be able to steal some of this energy without anyone noticing. The trick was taking just a minuscule portion of power from each and every badge, not enough to affect their normal functions, but, when combined, should be more than enough to give it to her agent (after some modifications, of course) and grant him open access to Heaven.

"Perfect." Belladonna grinned at the little amulets she had prepared. Now, she only had to give them to her agent, and make him disperse the amulets all over the city; since Belladonna wasn't sure about how many guests would be attending, or where they lived (even if assuming most of them would be residents of the same area Sasha and Charlie lived), the devilish dog needed the amulets to cover as much area as possible in order to gather the necessary power. "Now, I only need the right agent... someone smarter and stronger than the previous ones, so he can hold the powers I'll give him."

Back to the mortal world, a very angry, growling Boxer was walking around the city, without going anywhere in particular; he only wanted to do anything in order to forget his rage for the time being.

"Stupid Short Legs..." Manfred, Bess' ex-boyfriend, cursed Itchy for the millionth time. "How could Bess replace me with that cowardly moron that is nothing but the sidekick of that flea-ridden mutt... Oh, how I hate them both so much."

Manfred, out of anger, barked at a walking kid, scaring him; this was, of course, very unusual coming from a Boxer, a dog breed that usually was pretty kind with children, but Manfred had never been a good example of this breed; bad tempered, rude, annoying, vengeful... and those were his good points.

"I'd sell my soul just for having the chance to get rid of that pair of furry idiots... and to teach Bess a lesson; nobody betrays me and continues living so happy." Manfred growled softly yet cursing his own incapacity to get even on Charlie and Itchy. The one time he got into a physical match with Charlie, Manfred got beaten and had to run away, and was sure another fight would probably end the same way, especially if Itchy helped Charlie along with any other dog around; Manfred knew both dogs were well liked by most of the city's canine community, and he'd gain himself a good pack of enemies if he actually succeeded in accomplishing his revenge.

"So, you're offering your soul? Interesting."

Manfred stopped walking and looked around for the seductive female voice talking to him. He didn't see any dog around... or human, or animal. In his mindless walking, Manfred had arrived to a lonely alley that had nothing but a puddle of water and some garbage.

"Great. Now I`m hearing things." Manfred groaned.

"Yes, my voice." Manfred jumped when hearing the female again. "Don't worry, I won't bite you... unless you`re into those things. Come on, get a look."

Manfred realized the voice was coming from the puddle of water... and noticed that, despite being very dirty water, it was showing his reflection as perfectly as a mirror would. Then, out of nowhere, a sly, attractive-looking female dog appeared in the water.

"W-who are you?" Manfred asked, once recovering partially from the surprise.

"Your new best friend, Manfred." Belladonna smirked at him. "Someone who can give you the means to not just getting even on Charlie and Itchy... but to destroy them, along with anyone around them."

Manfred was ready to run away and try to find a good dog psychiatrist until hearing her offer. This definitely got his attention, and if this gal had the power to do this trick, who knew what else she was capable of?

"Okay, Dark Gal... you got my attention." Manfred got closer to the puddle, with a sly smirk rivaling Belladonna's.


	2. Revenge Is A Dish Best Serve

Chapter 2 - Revenge is Dish Best Served Five Times

"And there... you are." Sasha smiled at the little kitten she was rescuing from a tree... transformed as a cat herself. She had taken this form to avoid scaring the little guy even more; it was already bad enough for the kitten to be stuck in a tree to add a large dog approaching him, even if with good intentions. Sasha morphed one of her paws into a sack so the kitten could get in there, and then, holding a branch with her free hand/paw, started descending, stretching her arm to make it work as a rappel rope.

The kitten purred when Sasha finally placed him back on the ground; the little feline purred and rubbed his head on her legs, Sasha getting a warm face at this.

"Now, go back home. Your mom might be worried." Sasha caressed the kitten's head one last time before the feline nodded and left. Sasha then morphed back to her normal canine self, and left to join with Charlie.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

Belladonna's voice came from another puddle, but her face wasn't visible this time, as she was using her magic to make the puddle work as a magic mirror so Manfred could see Sasha's powers at work without risking being spotted by the elastic canine.

"Rescuing a cat... disgusting." Manfred growled yet, secretly, was deeply impressed at Sasha's abilities; after Belladonna informed him about the obstacles he'd need to face in order to have his revenge, Manfred asked for proof of her claims, and now he was more than ready to believe the devilish female.

"I couldn't agree more with you." Belladonna's face appeared on the puddle again. "But now you see why you can't rely just in your natural abilities to defeat Charlie, Itchie and their friends. You need my help. You need superpowers. You need... these."

A large sack, filled up with assorted amulets, magically appeared in front of Manfred; the dog checked them, and realized there were five different types. Some had a human skull in one side; others were icy-blue colored; others had a dark smoke cloud; others had some sort of storm cloud, with a lightning bolt added to the cloud symbol, and the rest had a green glowing orb... and all of them smelled like brimstone.

"You're going to hide these amulets all around the city, most of them at Charlie and Itchie's neighborhood." Belladonna instructed him. "However, you`re gonna conserve five amulets for yourself, one of each type."

"Why?" Manfred asked.

"Well... hold one of the blue amulets, and you'll see what happens. Just point with it to this same puddle, and think about ice and cold in general."

Manfred obeyed and grabbed one of the blue amulets. Then, he aimed, with the same paw holding the amulet, at the puddle, while trying to think about cold stuff, like ice cream, blizzards, icebergs, and last year's winter.

Then, all of a sudden, Manfred felt a chill running all over his body... and a moment later, a bright, white beam emerged from the amulet, hitting the puddle and turning the water into ice. Manfred gasped and dropped the amulet, not believing what just happened.

"Now you see why you must have the amulets. They're your power source." Belladonna's face appeared on the ice, grinning. "Use the skull amulet now... and think about fire."

Manfred, now recovering from the surprise and actually enjoying the power sensation he just felt, grabbed a skull amulet, and did as Belladonna told him. Manfred thoughts about fire soon caused his whole body to feel extreme heat... in fact, so hot, that Manfred thought he would disintegrate at the spot, until he felt the impulse to open his jaws, and a large, powerful flame emerged from his throat and through his muzzle, hitting the ice and melting it instantly. In fact, the flame was so big it evaporated the water.

"The cloud one... use it now..." Belladonna's voice came from the vapor. Manfred hurried up to grab the amulet she told him, and, this time, he didn't need her instructions.

"Water... lightning... rain..." Manfred thought out loud, concentrating to make the amulet work. Soon, the vapor turned into a small cloud; then, a large one, thunder and lightning included, and a strong rain soon covered the whole alley. Manfred laughed evilly, loving his gifts.

"You're a fast learner." Belladonna's face formed in the soaked ground; now that she wasn't limited to a little puddle, her whole body's image appeared in front of Manfred.

"And you're deviously attractive." Manfred grinned, admiring Belladonna's evil beauty.

"Okay, Casanova, if you wanna join me in a more... personal way, get the dark smoke one now." Belladonna smirked.

Manfred, now knowing how this worked, concentrated on smoke thoughts when grabbing the right amulet, and soon his whole body was changed to a black color... and then, he started moving like a cloud, completely weightless, and not solid at all. He moved next to the dark cloud, and grinned when noticing Belladonna was getting a similar form.

"And we're just starting." Belladonna got closer to him and used her seductive voice. "The green orb... use it. Just think about... anything you want to happen to any object."

Manfred went back to the ground, the rain stopping by then, and grabbed this amulet. Manfred looked at a nearby trash can, and thought about moving it... and it worked, the trash can floating a few feet over the ground.

"Don't drop this amulet, and grab the skull one again. This time, think about a spear."

Manfred obeyed Belladonna, and now was holding both amulets. He aimed at the trash can with the skull amulet and thought about the spear. This thought made the amulet to fuse with his paw, and then, a large, sharp point appeared in his paw. Manfred smirked evilly and looked back at the trash can, that was still levitating.

"Get over here!" Manfred shouted while opening his paw to the max.

The moment he said this, the spear was shot from his paw, hitting the trash can and perforating the metal without problems. Manfred realized the spear was still attached to his paw due to a large, dark cable, and pulled it, the cable doing a retractile action and getting the can right in front of Manfred. Then, Manfred aimed at the can with the other paw, the one holding the green amulet, and his next thought was 'Destruction'.

A green energy orb formed in this paw, and it hit the trash can.

BOOOM!

Manfred laughed evilly while Belladonna's sly smirk became more obvious when the trash can got destroyed and the garbage in it got dispersed all over the alley.

"Belladonna, I think I love you." Manfred grinned while looking at the green amulet, and then at the other one, that had de-fused from his paw the moment the spear was no longer needed.

"Charming." Belladonna then pointed back at the sack. "Once these amulets get charged with the energy we'll steal, you'll be able to absorb your five ones in a permanent way, not to mention you'll get access to many other powers. Now, go hide the other amulets. Oh, and Manfred? I'm generous... very generous... with those that serve me well... but I'm also merciless with those who fail me. So..."

"I won't fail you, my Dark Mistress." Manfred bowed in a very respectful way before grabbing the sack and leaving the alley. He was more than eager to start with the plan; maybe he, normally, hated to be subordinated to anyone, but he was smart enough to recognize when someone with resources offered him a great deal, plus he wasn't dumb enough to become enemies with a gal like Belladonna, so ignoring her orders was out of the question.

Belladonna, from the alley's soaked ground, smirked at Manfred as he left. Unlike other subordinates she have had in the past, Manfred wasn't motivated by greed, but by hate, envy and jealousy, three emotions far more powerful than simple greed, plus he was in very good physical shape, something that would be primordial when getting the powers permanently; a weaker dog wouldn't be able to hold that much energy, meaning Belladonna, in case of using weaker dogs, would need to give just one or two amulets to each minion, and they would need to work together in order to use the power to invade Heaven, and later to fight together against all the guardian angels and guests... and, usually, those evil enough to use the amulets weren't big into cooperation. As long as Manfred remained an obedient minion, and trained enough in the use of his new powers, he would, on his own, do more damage than a dozen servants at once.

A couple hours later, several streets away from this alley, an armed commando (composed of a half dozen masked thugs) ambushed an armored car, right when the security guards were arriving with money for a bank. Luckily, nobody got shot, but some of the guards got injured when the criminals punched/kicked them after forcing the guards to drop their guns.

"I got the keys, Boss!" One of the criminals said to another who, obviously, was the commando's leader.

"Good. You and I are driving. The rest of you, as we planned."

The rest of the criminals jumped on the back of the car, with the money, ready to shoot any police car chasing them, while the other two got to the driver seat and the copilot's one. A few seconds later, they were accelerating away... but barely advanced a few feet, despite the car going top speed.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" The leader got a look to the car's front, and gasped when realizing a large blue rubber band was now in the middle of the street, extending to one building to the other, and stopping the car from leaving. When the two criminals jumped down the car to see what was going on, the rubber band got a life of its own, wrapping itself around them.

"HELP!" The minion yelled in fear, getting the accomplices`attention. They all jumped down the car, ready to shoot whoever was attacking their partners... but they got stopped by a large Grizzly jumping over them. The bear used his massive paws to deliver quick, powerful hits to three of the four remaining criminals, sending them back inside the car, dizzy and almost knocked out. The last one avoided the attack and aimed at the bear... that immediately changed into a rabbit. The human gasped at the surprise and his scared face changed to a panicked one when the rabbit jumped at him and, on mid-air, morphed into a puma that tackled him. The feline roared on the human's face, making him to faint immediately.

The puma looked around when hearing the police cars' sirens; the feline approached the car's doors and pushed to close it, with the remaining thugs still inside; then, he placed both paws in the doors, and the metal started overheating, until reaching the melting point, fusing the doors together, and then the feline, when releasing the doors, summoned a cold wind that cooled down the metal, hardening it again so the criminals wouldn't be able to break free on their own; besides, they had dropped their guns when the bear attacked them, so they had no way to shoot any cop releasing them from the car. After giving his work one last look, the puma roared again, and the rubber band morphed into a humanoid, muscular form, without a visible face; the rubber titan then bonked the heads of the two remaining thugs, knocking them out as well. Then, it changed into a light, reddish brown dove, and flew away, followed by the puma that was now morphing into a black and white magpie. The very few humans on the street were either knocked out, or covering for protection (fearing any shot that might hit them by accident) so only the criminals knew what had just happened, and it wasn't probable that other humans would believe them.

The birds landed on a nearby rooftop, and morphed into Sasha and Charlie, both dogs giving each other a high-paw in congratulations.

"Nice transformation, Sasha... but why you didn't give that muscle giant a face?"

"A large, powerful creature that appears out of nowhere is scary enough; imagine how much I scared them with a faceless one." Sasha grinned. "And you used a puma? Heh, I thought you would never morph into a cat."

"Well, I wanted to be scary, and since pumas are the felines that... hunt on dogs more often, that was the scariest form I could think at the moment." Charlie admitted. "I have to tell, it wasn't as traumatic as I thought; cats are quite agile and fast... I wouldn't like to get stuck in that form for long, but guess it can be useful at times."

"Yes, it was." Sasha smiled at him before both dogs looked down at the street, watching the many cops arriving at the scene, including one calling for help and tools to open up the armored car's door. She and Charlie stayed up there for a while, until all the criminals got carried inside the police's transports.

"Well, the guys in blue can handle from here." Charlie smiled at Sasha. "Let's go back home. Annabelle is supposed to check the guests' list with us one last time before she finishes making all the badges."

"You, eager to attend one of Annabelle's meetings? We must ask her if this isn't a sign of apocalyptic disasters to come." Sasha joked. Charlie chuckled a bit and shook his head.

"I'm a bad influence on you, Sasha; leave the sarcastic comments to me."

"Oh, well, you know how it works; mine is yours, and yours is mine."

"Heh, and that applies to the sense of humor too? I have so much to learn." Both dogs chuckled and then kissed one last time before they morphed back to their bird forms and left the rooftop.

If they had stayed a little more, they could have spotted Manfred hiding an amulet at a nearby alley, right in front of where the two guardians stopped the armored car.

"Heh... you think this is a good place?" Manfred used his raining power to create a puddle so Belladonna could communicate with him.

"Mmm... an area where those two very recently used their heavenly powers; you really have a good brain." Belladonna grinned. This would help the hidden amulet to start gathering energy right on. "Now, go to the park. Those two do-gooders tend to help many animals and kids at that zone."

Manfred grinned and left the place, whistling 'innocently', and a dark though invading his mind.

"_If someone messes with you, don't get angry... get even...____and don`t stop there."_

Back at Charlie and Itchy's place, the Dachshund and his Cocker Spaniel girlfriend were already there, waiting for Charlie and Sasha. Not surprisingly, the soon-to-be newlyweds were late, but this didn't stop Annabelle from starting working on the details with the dogs that were already there; after all, being the Best Man (Dog) and Maid of Honor, Itchy and Bess were heavy into the ceremony's organization as well, so they were a good option to start working with... in fact, considering Itchy was far more organized than Charlie, he was a better option when it came to planning.

"I made this paper with theseating arrangements. Our closest friends will seat in the front lines; plus, Sasha's guests will sit left and Charlie's will be right." Itchy showed the diagram to Annabelle.

"How about the mutual friends? Charlie and Sasha have many." Bess asked.

"Those count as 'closest friends', and, in those cases, I think they can get the seats that are the closest to the aisle." Itchy pointed.

"Good thinking, Itchy. I think that can work just fine... and I know all these dogs, so no problem with any invitation... at least, with the guests deserving them." Annabelle said while giving the list a second look.

"What do you mean?" Bess arched an eyebrow.

"Some of them are a bit irresponsible or too much in the 'short-attention-span' area, so I can't trust them with a miracle badge for a long time. Even if I make the proper adjustments so the badges can't be used for anyone else, these dogs can still lose them." Annabelle explained. "In fact, now that I checked the list again, I think it would be more fair to everyone if I give the badges just a couple of minutes they go to the ceremony."

"Good thinking... but I think you can give Bess her badge already. She's very trustworthy." Itchy said, making Bess to blush a bit.

"I have a better idea, but let's wait for Charlie and Sasha to arrive..." Annabelle paused when two birds entered the room. "Oh, they're here."

"Heh, sorry about the delay." Charlie morphed back to normal. "We were fighting for truth, justice, and the canine way."

"Cool down, Krypto." Sasha grinned at her fiance before looking back at the other dogs. "So, how advanced are you with the arrangements?"

"We're almost done." Annabelle informed before getting her usual 'right to business' tone. "Except for something that can't wait any longer."

"Uh, oh... I know that face." Charlie groaned. "What's going on now? Don't tell me Cerberus is unleashed again."

"No, nothing that serious... luckily. I can't stand one devilish hound; imagine one with 3 heads." Annabelle shuddered before going back to business. "No, this isn't an emergency, but it's related to your Heavenly Powers."

This got everyone's attention. Even Charlie wouldn't joke now.

"I've seen how you two are using your powers, and I'm more than pleased with your work." Annabelle smiled at Charlie and Sasha before getting serious again. "But you still are only 2 dogs, and this city is just too huge. You need assistance."

"You mean, you're sending us new guardian angels to help us?" Charlie got a broad smile. "Perfect! That way someone can attend the office while Sasha and I are in our honeymoon."

"And who are you sending for this work, Annabelle? Some angel that wants a second chance at mortal living?" Sasha asked.

"I considered that, but as you two have proved several times in the past, this work is more suitable for an already living dog, with knowledge about Heaven, and that can move and work on the streets. Most of the dogs here in Heaven are already too used to their afterlife and wouldn't do that good of a job since they'd be thinking about returning here rather than doing their job on Earth." Annabelle pointed before looking at Itchy and Bess. "And I see two perfect candidates here."

Itchy and Bess wide opened their eyes and their jaws fell when Annabelle said this.

"B-but you... I mean.. us..." Itchy was almost in shock until Charlie got his attention.

"Itchy, you know sometimes I argue Annabelle's decisions, but I fully agree with this one. You are one of the most loyal, responsible guys I know." Charlie said to his best friend. "And if Sasha and I ever need a helping paw, I wouldn't trust my furry butt to anyone more than I would do with you. And Bess, well, what can I say about her that you don't already know? She'll be a terrific guardian angel."

Itchy and Bess smiled at Charlie, and then looked at a supporting expression coming from Sasha, and a gentle one from Annabelle. The Dachshund held the Cocker's paw, and they smiled at each other, nodding, before looking back at the heavenly female.

"We're ready, Annabelle."


	3. New Super Powered Guardian Angels

Chapter 3 - New Super Powered Guardian Angels

Charlie and Sasha moved next to Annabelle while the heavenly dog instructed everyone. She was visibly happy for Bess and Itchy accepting the new charge.  
>"Alright, let me go get two Miracle Dog Tags and I'll give you your powers," Said Annabelle. "In the meantime, you all go to the junkyard. I'll explain you there."<br>Annabelle dematerialized immediately, and the two couples obeyed, Charlie and Sasha using their powers to get there faster by using their morphing powers, Sasha changing into an eagle so Bess could ride on her back while Charlie used his wind power to create a small yet very powerful hurricane-like air current that could transport Itchy and himself. Charlie also used his elemental powers to create a warm air wave, mostly for Bess and Itchy's sake, as he knew that flying could be 'cool' in more ways than one, so the travel was a little more comfortable for the non-powered canines, even if still a bit too agitated, especially for Itchy, since, obviously, traveling via wind wasn't as controlled and steady as an eagle's flight.  
>A few minutes after arriving to the junkyard (and once Itchy and Bess recovered from the flight), Annabelle appeared there, holding two Miracle Dog Tags, complete with a normal looking collar for each tag.<br>"Itchy, Bess, it's my honor to promote you both to Super Powered Guardian Angels, with all the privileges and responsibilities of said charge." Annabelle said while using her powers to make the tags and collars to disappear and then re-appear already on Itchy and Bess' necks.  
>"The honor is ours, Annabelle; thanks." Itchy said to her.<br>"And we'll not disappoint you." Bess added.  
>Not a second had passed since the couple said this that their bodies seemed to, literally, absorb the tags and collars, infusing them with the powers in a similar way Annabelle had done with Charlie and Sasha.<br>"Congrats, Itchy!" Charlie gave him a playful noogie and then congratulated Bess as well but then stopped right there. "One minute... Sasha and I didn't need the tag thing to get our powers. Why..."  
>"Bess and Itchy needed it?" Annabelle finished the question before answering. "It's because of the nature of your abilities, Charlie. Elemental and Elastic powers are more or less common ground for an archangel of my rank, so I can give those powers almost freely, as long as the one getting them deserves such energy, but I gave Itchy and Bess another set of abilities, in order to increase your team's range and variety of powers, and I needed magically-infused tags for that."<br>"What kind of abilities?" Sasha asked.  
>"You'll see now. Itchy, Bess, try to focus on the idea of transforming. You don't need to concentrate on an specific transformation; just think about it, and concentrate on changing."<br>Itchy and Bess obeyed and, after concentrating for about a minute, they both got engulfed by heavenly light; once it disappeared, Itchy was wearing what would be the equivalent of a ninja suit, in green and red tones, while Bess was wearing a more stylish version of Charlie's suit minus the pants, boots and the dot.  
>"This is incredible!" Itchy looked at his suit in amazement.<br>"Yes... it is..." Bess got an awe face as well. "But why my suit looks so much like Charlie's, if my powers are different from his?"  
>"Because, just like Charlie's Light and Dark Elemental Powers, you now have the powers of those who are the link between light and darkness; life and death; the material world and the spiritual one. In other words, you have ghostly powers." Annabelle explained.<p>

As if to make Annabelle's point more valid, Bess' paws, literally, started sinking on the ground, without causing her any pain. She jumped in surprise and then everyone noticed her paws were apparently gone for a moment until they reappeared on their own, apparently undamaged.  
>"That, for example, is ghostly intangibility and invisibility. You have to be a bit careful with those, since, from all your powers, these are the ones more linked to your emotional state. If you get a very strong feeling, either excitement, anger, embarrassment or even love, you can trigger those powers without realizing it." Annabelle told Bess, who understood and started calming down while the heavenly canine turned at Itchy. "You, on the other hand, well, I gave you the Ultimate Warrior Blessing. Many great heroes in history have received this power, that makes them physically superior to the average mortal; Hercules, Samson, Achilles, Atalanta, King Arthur, Joan of Arc, Paul Bunyan, and a long list of not-that-famous humans, and many animals as well, are fine examples of this. In fact, Excalibur, the famous sword of King Arthur, was a product of his own power, a weapon he created, even if myths and popular culture have changed that part of the story."<br>"I thought the Lady of the Lake gave it to him after the Sword in the Stone was destroyed in battle?" Itchy asked, amazed and puzzled.  
>"Heh... and who do you think was The Lady of The Lake, but a human archangel that gave Arthur the Ultimate Warrior Blessing?" Annabelle explained. "The story got changed over time to make it more magical and less religious in origin, so it would be more appealing for other cultures. Of course, you don't need to use all your power to create a super weapon, since this would make you formidable in battle but also very dependant of that same weapon. I'd recommend you to, instead, use your abilities to summon several less powerful yet assorted weapons, that would make you more unpredictable in battle and give you more attack options. And even if you get too good at using them, and your new enhanced body capacities will make you very hard to damage, I also recommend you to create some protection, like a shield or a helmet, in order to be both offensive and defensive in battle. One of the warriors blessed with this power used it mostly to create super weapons rather than increasing his body's capacities, as he was already blessed with great smarts; you probably know him as Perseus, the Greek hero that defeated Medusa. He focused all his energy in creating swords, a protective helmet (so good it actually could make him invisible) and other weapons that helped him defeat monsters more powerful than himself."<br>"So, basically, you gave Itchy a literal arsenal of weapons instead of an arsenal of powers like mine." Charlie guessed.  
>"That's a way to see it." Annabelle commented. "Okay, Itchy, let's start with something simple.. imagine you have a weapon that needs to be thrown, like, a dagger or a shuriken."<br>"Shuri-what?" Charlie arched an eyebrow.  
>"It's a ninja weapon, Charlie; those star-like things... look, like this one." Itchy extended his paw to show Charlie a bright, metallic shuriken... and then realized he had just summoned it without even realizing it. "I DID THIS?"<br>"Yes, you did. That's great, Itchy!" Bess, who had approached the male dogs, along with Sasha, looked at the shuriken in awe.  
>"And you don't just summoned a weapon, Itchy, but you also have the reflexes and abilities to use it perfectly. You can test it now, if you want; just choose a target." Annabelle said.<br>"Yes, Itchy, we're at a junkyard. Lots of stuff you can destroy without remorse." Charlie grinned.  
>Itchy then looked around, spotting an old car that was damaged and rusty beyond repairing chances, and then threw the shuriken at the door, making a clean, perfect line, and doing it so fast that even Sasha and Charlie had problems to see it.<br>"Not bad, Itchy. Now, try summoning several ones for a fast attack." Annabelle instructed him.  
>Itchy, out of nowhere, summoned dozens of shurikens, all of them aimed at the car, pretty much reducing it from junk to destroyed junk... until the new guardian angel, without even realizing it, summoned a shuriken almost as big as himself, and threw it so hard that it sliced the car's remains right in the middle, leaving two perfect halves of the old vehicle, and still had enough momentum to hit a wood fence behind the car, stabbing a plank that then fell on its own.<br>"Wow. I wanted to summon several shurikens at once to see if I could throw them all at the same time... and that giant thing just appeared in my paw." Itchy said to Annabelle.  
>"Sometimes your power will allow you to get the right weapon for a specific task without even realizing it consciously. It's part of your blessing; a fighting instinct that helps you take the right decisions in the middle of battle without losing time on planning." Annabelle informed him.<br>"And you weren't kidding about him getting stronger." Charlie said to the females and Itchy; the German Shepherd had moved next to the giant shuriken and was now lifting it with both paws. "This is very heavy! I need both paws to lift it, and I'm super strong too... and Itchy didn't just lift this thing but he threw it with enough force to slice through metal."  
>"I think now we can start with a proper training. Charlie, since you use your Elemental Powers as an arsenal, like you already pointed it, I think you're the most adequate to help Itchy practice his aim and the way to use his weapons, while you, Sasha, due your powers being mostly physical ones, are perfectly suited to help Bess train her abilities: also, Sasha, I'm gonna help you too since I'm familiar with spiritual powers and Bess still doesn't know the whole extension of her abilities." Annabelle said to the more experienced duo.<br>"I think you're right." Sasha said before turning at the other non-heavenly dogs. "The junkyard is big enough for us to separate during training, so neither Itchy nor Bess gets distracted with the other's practice."  
>"Good idea, Sasha. I'll take Itchy the other side of the junkyard while you gals stay here." Charlie nodded at Sasha before they did a little Eskimo-style kissing (rubbing noses) and then the male dog turned at Itchy. "Okay, Itch, you heard the ladies; they need some girls-only time and we need a little male bonding over destroying stuff... heh, nothing more masculine than that."<br>Itchy chuckled a bit before giving Bess a little kiss on her cheek and following Charlie the other side of the junkyard. Charlie used his wind powers to fly over there and this time he didn't give Itchy a ride in order to test the Dachshund's agility and speed; to Itchy's own surprise, he was running and jumping so fast he didn't just keep Charlie's pace but he arrived to the training spot a couple seconds before his companion.  
>Meanwhile, Annabelle got Sasha and Bess' attention again.<br>"Okay, now that the testosterone left..." Annabelle grinned while her little joke got Bess and Sasha to chuckle a bit. "... we'll start working. First of all, we'll practice the flight, one of the ghosts' most basic powers. It will be a bit hard at first, since, in order to fly, a ghost must make him or herself lighter than air, meaning a powerful gust of wind might get you out of balance, Bess, so I need you, Sasha, to be ready to catch her if she falls or starts flying without control."  
>Bess and Sasha nodded, and while the larger female moved a few steps away to look at a distance and wait to act if necessary, Bess started focusing her mind on flying; like Annabelle said, she had to think about making herself as light as possible. After a few seconds, Bess started floating like a balloon, first just a couple of feet over the ground, and then going up at a slow yet steady pace. Bess started getting worried about being so high up in the sky without anything solid to get a hold on, but Sasha controlled her nerves by extending her arms and grabbing Bess, which helped her remember that Sasha would take her down slowly or even catch her safely if things went wrong. Bess then started using a controlled flight, moving in circles around and over Annabelle and Sasha, the elastic canine still keeping a hold on her, similar to a kid flying a kite. Once Annabelle judged that Bess had enough self confidence to fly without an anchor, she told Sasha to release the ghostly gal; Sasha did it slowly, so Bess could realize she would be flying on her own. Bess didn't lose control of her flight, and even started doing some little acrobatics on air, yet still needing to recover control a couple of times when her flying skill seemed to fail and she started descending.<br>"That's very good, Bess." Annabelle smiled and then turned at Sasha. "Now, try going up there as a bird, and fly next to Bess so she can follow you. It will help her exercise her control."  
>"I think I know the right bird for the job." Sasha nodded before changing into a Humming Bird. Despite not being too big, this bird was well known for its flying ability and the capacity to fly in every direction, even backwards, an ability no other bird had, or at least, not on the same degree of control.<br>Sasha went up until positioning herself in front of Bess, the Cocker Spaniel realizing the idea of this exercise immediately. Sasha then started doing some fast flying, moving up and down, side to side, and back and forth, with Bess doing her best to mimic her as fast as possible.  
>Meanwhile, at the other side of the junkyard, Charlie had formed a few piles of junk (mostly car parts and empty cans), placed several feet in front of Itchy, who now was holding not a set of shurikens, but a large Bo staff.<br>"Ready, Itchy?" Charlie, placing himself opposite to Itchy and behind the junk, said to his friend.  
>"Make them fly, Charlie." Itchy nodded at Charlie without losing sight of the junk.<br>Charlie then summoned a large gust of wind that sent a whole pile of junk up in the air and in Itchy's direction. The Dachshund jumped almost 7 feet up and started hitting all the junk's individual pieces with the staff, moving it so fast he succeeded in hitting all of them before falling back to the ground, and so hard that most of the metallic pieces were either dented or broken.  
>"Good moves, Itchy. Now, let's try with more pieces." Charlie then used his wind powers to send not one but two piles against Itchy. This time, the Bo staff got divided into two smaller battle sticks (Itchy recognized them as tonfas), Itchy holding one on each paw; the Dachshund went back to high, acrobatic moves to hit every piece, and when missing one with the sticks, he would immediately hit it with his legs. Again, this was so fast that he did hit all the pieces before falling back to the ground.<br>"Perfect! Now... let's try a larger object." Charlie spotted the remains of a car's trunk, and used a more powerful wind blast, practically hurricane level, to send it flying. This time, he didn't throw it to Itchy, but sent it to the opposite direction. "Heh, go get it, Itchy!"  
>Itchy started chasing the trunk, moving at top speed until he was right under the flying metallic object. The ninja dog then jumped again, and the tonfas morphed into twin katana swords; Itchy made a lightning-fast move with both swords, and then made them disappear. At first Charlie thought Itchy had missed the target since it didn't look damaged at all (at least, not beyond its original junk state), but after flying a few more feet, the metallic object got separated into two cleanly cut pieces that fell down to earth. Itchy had moved so fast that the cut's effects weren't visible immediately, and instead made a so perfect slice that the trunk didn't even separate until the wind and gravity did the job.<br>"If this Guardian Angel thing doesn't work for us, I think you have a future at making sushi, Itch." Charlie half-joked, even if deeply impressed by Itchy's ability. "Okay, let`s try some other weapons."  
>As the male dogs continued, the females were already finishing the flight practice. By now, Bess was doing a more than decent work following Sasha's aerobatic moves.<br>"Great job, Bess. A very fast progress in little time. No wonder Itchy talks so highly about your intelligence." Annabelle complimented Bess when she landed, Sasha following and morphing back to normal almost instantly.  
>"Aw, thanks, Annabelle. You and Sasha are very good teachers." Bess smiled, blushing a bit at the compliment.<br>"Still, you have your own merit." Sasha commented before turning at Annabelle. "So, what other power are we helping her practice now?"  
>Annabelle got a bit more serious face, Sasha and Bess realizing she would now talk about a delicate aspect of the training.<br>"Body Possession, or Overshadowing, as it's also called." Annabelle started explaining. "It's one of the main abilities granted by the spectral power, but it's also one that's very easy to abuse, and involves messing with one of all sentient beings' most basic rights."  
>"What right?" Bess asked, now a bit worried.<p>

"The freedom of choice, will and action. Basically, when overshadowing someone, you are denying him or her the freedom to control his/her own actions, and even the ability to think or talk by him/herself, since, when you do it, that person or dog no longer is aware of whatever the body is doing while you're possessing it. In other words, you turn that being into a mental and physical slave." Annabelle said in a calm yet serious tone. "Unfortunately, there will be times when you'll need to use this ability, like, for example, gain control of a human body to interact with people in a close, personal way, something you normally can't do as a dog, or to rescue someone who's very scared or injured to cooperate with you when rescuing him or her."  
>"I can see how that can be useful." Sasha commented, getting Bess and Annabelle's attention. "Just today, I had to morph into a cat to cool down a kitten and rescue the little guy, because my dog form was too scary for him. If I have had the overshadowing power, I'd have possessed his body and then make him climb down the tree, or if I have had my elastic powers while possessing him, going down my way."<br>"That's a very good example, Sasha. It can also come handy to rescue a human from a burning building." Annabelle looked at Bess again. "You can possess him or her, and make that person's body to jump or climb down the building's wall, even if there's other person watching; later, when leaving that body, the victim will remember nothing, and think it was the adrenaline what made him or her to save his/her own life without even realizing it. Plus, since you'll still have your ghostly powers while possessing the body, you can make that person intangible, or make him/her fly to make an easier rescue."  
>Bess nodded in understanding. This ability was definitely very easy to abuse, and maybe even not too ethic under most circumstances, but it would be very useful in desperate situations, like saving a person with witnesses around, something that would be very hard without this power.<br>"Now, let's start. To use this ability, you have to make yourself intangible and literally jump inside the body you're gonna possess. Since I'm an archangel, you can't overshadow my body, so Sasha will need to volunteer for the test." Annabelle turned at Sasha. "This is very important, Sasha; you are gonna lose conscience of everything around you while Bess takes control of your body, but you can be sure we'll be careful so your body doesn't get damaged and we'll not use it for any undignified or humiliating action."  
>"I know, Annabelle. And I fully trust you and Bess." Sasha nodded at this and turned back at Bess. "Heh, just don't try to kiss Itchy when you're using my body; I'm sure that, even with powers, Charlie and Itchy would have a heart attack."<br>Bess chuckled a bit and nodded at Sasha. Annabelle then positioned them one in front of the other and gave Bess a few pointers about intangibility and how she'd feel once entering a body that wasn't her own and therefore would have a change in perspective, with some things looking smaller or bigger once occupying a larger body. Also, Annabelle told Sasha to relax and be as calm as possible before the possession, since a resisting will could potentially expel an inexperienced ghost out of the body and mind; this also made Sasha a bit more comfortable about this ability of Bess, knowing she had a chance of repelling any other spirit trying to perform a possession on her body.  
>Once Bess felt confident enough, and Sasha was calm and ready, the smaller female turned intangible and entered Sasha's body. Then, Sasha's body started contorting, and due to her elasticity, the contortions were particularly spectacular, with her limbs growing to large sizes and moving like wild snakes until finally settling down; then, Sasha's eyes changed to a light blue tone and her disguise started glowing purple. When the elastic canine's body finally stopped moving at all, it wasn't Sasha who talked next.<br>"Oh, my... this was like riding a roller coaster... Wait, that's not my voice..." 'Sasha' said to herself before looking at Annabelle. "And... you look smaller now... oh, my, these are my paws? They're so big..."  
>"Bess, calm down. Remember, you`re in Sasha's body now. Take deep breaths." Annabelle calmed Bess down. The spectral gal in Sasha's body did as said, and soon wasn't as overexcited as before, but still deeply impressed.<br>"Wow... things look very different... Now I see what you mean about the different perspective... and why is my outfit purple?"  
>"Because you're still a rookie in this. Once you get more self-control, you'll be able to overshadow someone without giving away your presence. Besides, Sasha has powers too, so it's obvious your abilities will make yourself more noticeable when getting inside her body than they would do in any other dog or or person." Annabelle explained.<br>"Sasha has quite a strong body... Look at this arm." Bess looked at Sasha's right arm and paw, and then, by instinct, the limb turned extremely muscular, to the point it seemed more a gorilla's than a dog's. "What..."  
>"You have Sasha's body, meaning you have her powers. And if Sasha thinks her body is the size and shape of King Kong's, her elasticity makes it real."<br>"Oh, right..." Bess then morphed Sasha's arm back to normal; one moment later, morphed the paw into a cube; then, a bone; almost instantly, a dog bowl, and finally, back to normal again. "Sasha has quite incredible powers... this feels great."  
>"That's one of the Overshadowing's benefits. You can literally walk a mile in another dog's paws, and literally see how it feels to be him or her." Annabelle smiled. "Now, go ahead and try using the whole body."<br>Bess obeyed, and in the next half hour made Sasha's body to morph into a variety of animals, starting with the most basic, simpler animals she could think, like other dog breeds and canine species, like a fox, coyote and wolf, and then started moving to animals completely different from dogs, like felines, birds, a crocodile, and a platypus.  
>"Ah, the platypus. The ultimate proof of God's existence." Annabelle grinned.<br>"How so?" Bess, still in the form of a rubbery platypus, asked the heavenly dog.  
>"You think an animal like this can actually exist and be functional in the wild without being created by a higher being? I mean, a duck-beaver mix..." Annabelle chuckled a bit, making Bess to laugh as well. "Okay, now, morph back to Sasha's normal body, and we'll practice you using your normal ghost powers while still inside another body."<br>The other side of the junkyard, Charlie and Itchy continued with their own practice. By now, Itchy was moving to more exotic weapons, and Charlie was having problems to keep up with them all.  
>"Okay... what is that thing? A scythe chained to a stick?" Charlie arched an eyebrow when looking at the weapon Itchy was holding.<br>"No, it's a kusarigama. I saw it in a movie once. Basically, it's a weapon especially designed to fight and disarm enemies carrying a sword without getting too close to them." Itchy explained.  
>"No wonder Annabelle didn't give me your powers instead of the Elemental ones. I'd need to read an encyclopedia just to recognize the weapons I'd summon, or I'd limit myself to a club, a sword, a mallet and a hockey stick." Charlie rolled his eyes yet chuckled at this. "Okay, Itch, since this weapon works mostly against swords, we need to find you a sword to destroy..."<br>"I can provide that." Itchy used his power to summon a short sword and gave it to Charlie.

"Perfect. Now, just remember, use that kusa-rigatoni-lasagna thing to disarm me, but just that. I'm not El Zorro so I don't really know how to use this thing except moving it too fast and trying to hit the other guy." Charlie pointed.  
>Itchy nodded and they got into dueling positions. Charlie then charged at Itchy, who used his super agility to dodge him with ease, and then used the kusarigama's hard end to block a second strike. Itchy jumped back several feet while throwing the weapon's sharp edge, catching Charlie's sword's blade. Then, when Itchy fell down to earth, gave the chain a good pull, and the sword flew away from Charlie's paws. Itchy caught it with his free paw without problems.<br>"Heh, well done, Itch. I barely saw you moving." Charlie chuckled. "Good thing you gave me a sword or you would have disjointed my arms if I had used my own blades."  
>"What do you mean, Charlie?" Itchy asked while disappearing both weapons.<br>Charlie then surprised Itchy when his paws morphed into two long blades.  
>"One of the elements I control is Metal, meaning I can morph any part of my body into this steel-like thing, and even shape it to form a chain, a blade and so. I only started practicing it recently." Charlie explained.<br>"Then, maybe now it's my chance to help you, Charlie."  
>"Just 'now'? Itchy, if we make a list of all the times you have helped me, it'd fill up San Francisco's phone guide." Charlie rolled his eyes while morphing his paws back to normal.<br>"Good point... still, what I mean is that, while I can summon weapons, you can make weapons out of your own body. You only need someone teaching you how to use them."  
>Charlie nodded in realization; Itchy now had the skills of a master martial artist, so he could teach him sword-fighting... or any other style involving the use of a metallic weapon.<br>"You got yourself a student, Itchy Sensei." Charlie grinned. "Heh, good thing I watch those movies too... now, I just hope your training doesn't involve making me wash and wax cars or paint fences."  
>Itchy shook his head, grinning, and summoned a Bo staff.<br>"We'll start with some basics. Turn your right paw into a staff like mine." Itchy paused while Charlie did as said. "Good. Now, I want you to change your head into metal, and the same with your chest, so I don't hurt you by accident while we practice."  
>Charlie morphed the upper part and the sides of his head into a steely material, and then did the same with his torso, so now he was practically using a helmet and a protective vest. The two dogs bowed at each other again, and Itchy started giving Charlie the pointers about Bo fighting before they started sparring, Itchy going easy on him at first to test Charlie's speed and resistance before moving to more serious battle moves.<br>After a while, Charlie was doing quite well with the Bo fighting, so Itchy decided to move to another weapon. He made Charlie to morph his arms into two medium-length sticks, and then Itchy summoned his tonfas again. Charlie, now very aware of how good Itchy was with this particular weapon (remembering he had used them in the target practice), was a bit wary before getting offensive in this combat, trying mostly defensive moves. Only after blocking Itchy's attacks a few times Charlie felt confident enough to try striking back; Itchy blocked all the moves but it was obvious Charlie was improving. Soon, he would be good enough for them to practice with potentially lethal weapons, like Scythes and Katanas.  
>Unknown to Charlie and Itchy, someone was watching their practice, thanks to a super long neck that would make a giraffe envious, and gigantic telescopic eyes.<br>"Wow... Itchy is doing great." Bess, still inside Sasha's body, watched at the males in awe, especially at Itchy, amazed at his progress in such a little time. When practicing Sasha's body's limits, Bess realized that she could make her eyes big enough to work as telescopes or other magnifying glasses, and when she decided to see how far she could see when having these eyes, Bess stretched the elastic neck to look over the surrounding junk, until the neck elevated the head over a 10 stories building's height; and, by mere coincidence, spotted Itchy and Charlie's sparring when they started working with Charlie's metallic powers.  
>"As an angel I shouldn't fall into temptation, but this is too much..." Annabelle grinned before looking up at BessSasha's head and yelling, "Hey, Bess, how is the weather up there?"  
>Bess chuckled at the classic joke and then reduced the neck's length, as well as the eyes' size, until the elastic body was back to the normal dimensions.<br>"I admit I'm having a lot of fun here... but I feel a bit bad for Sasha; maybe I should jump out of her body now." Bess said to Annabelle.  
>"I don't think she'd get upset over this, but it`s nice that you express concern over the potential abuse of your abilities. Okay, guess you`re right and it's time for Sasha to recover her body's control." Annabelle nodded. "To get out of her body, focus on your intangibility again."<br>Bess obeyed but, to her frustration, Sasha's body became intangible along with her spectral one, so Bess couldn't get out at the moment.  
>"Remember, you must separate your body from hers, and that means you have to picture your own body in your mind." Annabelle explained. "Otherwise, you'll continue making her intangible and therefore you'll remain stuck in there as any physical, solid object inside another one."<br>Bess nodded and went back to trying. It took her three more attempts and some concentration, but she eventually managed to jump out of Sasha's body. The elastic canine shook her head, recovering her conscience while Bess turned back to solid and shook her head as well, since she had to get used again to her own body and the perceptions that came with her own size and complexion.  
>"Nnngh... I feel as if I were waking up after being knocked out... minus the pain of getting hit." Sasha commented as she finally came back to her senses. "But... now I feel better. Yes, no damage done. May I guess that the practice was successful?"<br>"Yes, it was. Bess did a very decent work with your abilities." Annabelle pointed at Sasha.  
>"You have quite cool powers, Sasha... now I wonder how you can keep your own shape when you have the option of having any you like." Bess said to her friend. "Are you sure you're okay?"<br>"Yes, Bess, don't worry. I`m a bit disoriented, but now I'm getting back to normal. Heh, guess now I know how a drunk guy feels the next morning without the hangover's headache." Sasha joked.  
>"Very good, now let's try the other powers."Annabelle said to Bess before explaining about her other abilities.<br>On the meantime, Itchy decided that Charlie was doing well enough to try more dangerous weaponry. The ninja dog summoned a large katana, and told Charlie to turn his arms/frontal paws into blades as well. Charlie did a very good job copying the katana blade.  
>"That sword of yours isn't a super one, right?" Charlie asked. "Annabelle said that you can pretty much make yourself an Excalibur, and if I remember my comic books and cartoons, that thing can cut anything."<br>"Yes, you're right, but that was a special sword, that was made by summoning and focusing all the power of a Blessed Warrior. I'm only using a fraction of my power to create the weapons, mostly because I just started learning." Itchy explained. "Besides, since you control metal, I doubt it will be possible to damage your metallic parts without lots of power."  
>Charlie was okay with this explanation, and he and Itchy, after the respectful bow, started sparring. To give Charlie a bit of an edge, Itchy allowed Charlie to use two blades while he used only one, so Charlie had more attacking range and defense capacity, compensating for him facing a warrior with instinctive knowledge of how to use the weapons and enhanced physical abilities. Itchy got defensive as Charlie threw the first attacks, Itchy blocking them all yet using notably more speed and energy than when they started sparring with the Bo staff; then, Itchy got offensive, hitting Charlie's torso a couple of times before the German Shepherd started blocking his friend's attacks as well. Charlie then charged at Itchy with both blades pointing at his body, but Itchy escaped by summersaulting over Charlie and landing behind him; Itchy then threw an attack to Charlie's back but the larger dog blocked it by placing his sword right between the torso and Itchy's blade. Charlie turned back and threw an attack at Itchy's face, that got dodged as well.<br>"Not bad, Charlie; try to surprise me." Itchy got defensive, ready for any move from Charlie.  
>Charlie got an idea and, when he charged at Itchy and one of his blades got intercepted by Itchy's sword, Charlie's other blade changed from a sword's to a scythe's, longer than the sword and with a curvy shape that made it harder to dodge or block. Itchy had to jump to avoid the scythe hitting his legs; even if, according to Annabelle, all his physical capacities were now on extremely enhanced levels (which included his self-healing capacity), Itchy wasn't eager to test his capacity to recover from a blade cut. Itchy grinned and then, in an instant, changed his kitana into a large scythe to fight back with the same weapon. Charlie blocked the scythe's blade but then Itchy used the stickpole-like side to hit Charlie's legs, making him to fall on his back. Itchy then used the scythe's blunt edge to keep the sword-like blade down while summoning a shorter blade in his other paw; Itchy then pounced at Charlie, with a stabbing action, directing his weapon to Charlie's neck yet stopping a couple inches before connecting.  
>"You really surprised me, Charlie." Itchy grinned before retiring the scythe and disappearing it.<br>"Heh... you too, Itch. One more inch, and you`d need to explain a lot to Annabelle and Sasha." Charlie chuckled a bit before pointing at Itchy's new weapon. "And what with the butcher knife?"  
>"It's a tanto. Basically, it's a medium sized knife that can be used as a short sword, a throwing weapon or a stabbing one." Itchy explained while showing Charlie the tanto before disappearing it.<br>"Itch, you're the ninja equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife." Charlie joked.  
>"Ha, Ha, yeah, I betcha nobody would wanna mess with me." Itchy joked.<br>"Yeah, like Manfred, ha, what a jerk." Charlie laughed.  
>"Ha, yeah, suck on this Manfred." Itchy joked as he raised his fist, while at the same time, he and Charlie broke out into laughter.<br>But unbeknownest to them, Manfred was overhearing what they were saying.  
>"Oh, you have no idea how wrong you are, shorty." said Manfred under his breath.<p> 


	4. Belladonnas Newest Super Weapons

Chapter 4 - Belladonna's Newest Super Weapons

By using his new found agility, Manfred had managed to climb up a pretty tall building that Belladonna had indicated him. Thanks to her own powers, the devilish dog detected the place where Annabelle's protegees were practicing, so she could guide Manfred to a spot close enough for spying yet still far enough to avoid being detected himself. Luckily, since both Bess and Itchy, being rookies in the use of their powers, weren't very subtle when using them, it was relatively easy to see them from a distance, especially the most spectacular aspects of their training, like Bess' flight and Itchy destroying large pieces of junk with his martial arts weaponry.

"I hate to say this... but they're good." Manfred growled in anger when noticing his rival and former girlfriend's new abilities. "I'll need a lot more power to defeat these guys..."

"And you'll have it." Belladonna said to him, the hellish gal using a puddle provided by Manfred's rain power to communicate with him. "Remember, that's why you're spreading and hiding the amulets, to collect all the energy you'll need to defeat them. If you were to attack now, even with Itchy and Bess being novices in the use of their powers, it would be a very close battle, and if Sasha and Charlie enter the fight, as they'd surely do, you wouldn't stand a chance. Now, put some amulets in all the buildings surrounding the junkyard, and then leave... and remember, don't use your most destructive or noticeable powers, just the agility and stealth I provided you, so Annabelle can't detect you as I did with her pupils."

Manfred nodded at his evil mentor, and, after placing an amulet in the rooftop he was currently in, the Boxer jumped to the next building, making it a clean, effortless jump despite being more than 30 feet away. Manfred repeated the operation a few more times until the area surrounding the junkyard had enough hellish amulets to collect the necessary energy without being detected. Then, Manfred went back to the street and, as Belladonna instructed him, left the area via the sewers, a place most dogs rarely entered and therefore a more or less safe way to move without getting noticed.

"Stop, Manfred." Manfred obeyed his mentor, Belladonna using the sewer's dirty water as a large puddle/mirror to contact him. "You have to get some equipment from here. Go to this sewer's exit, and then get inside the first building at your left."

Manfred did as said, getting a little puzzled expression when noticing the place Belladonna wanted him to enter was an old magic store.

"_This is just stage magic. Why would Belladonna want cheap tricks when she can already use real powers?" _Manfred thought yet decided to obey Belladonna and break inside. The dog used his ice powers on the lock, freezing it to make it easier to break. Then, Belladonna used a magician's mirror to project her image inside the store.

"The original owners of this place weren't real warlocks, but they were lucky enough to find objects with real mystical abilities. I need you to find a box with 'Magic Dust' written on a side; unknown to the people making it for cheap magical shows, the ingredients they used came from magic charged areas, so we can use them to improve your arsenal."

Manfred grinned while searching for the box, finding it after a few minutes.

"I found it, My Mistress." Manfred turned back to the mirror.

"You really like saying it, uh?" Belladonna smirked at Manfred, who smirked back at her. "Good; take it out and put it in front of the mirror."

Once Manfred did this, Belladonna's eyes glowed a dark red, and then projected a beam over the box, that soon was glowing the same red tone.

"Now, use your flame powers to burn this box to ashes."

Manfred took a deep breath and then used his hellish flame on the box. As it started burning down, Belladonna motioned him to shoot his spear at the box while it still wasn`t completely turned into ashes.

The Boxer shot his spear at the box, feeling a weird energy surge covering both the spear and the cable connecting it to his paw. Then, the smoke and ashes covered the spear as if they were a sentient being, and soon the box and its burning remains disappeared completely.

"That was intense." Manfred grinned while looking at his spear, that now looked even longer than before, and glowing an intense red tone before it changed back to its normal color.

"And now, time for an intense test." Belladonna grinned. "I found a minor spirit to try this. Get ready for a shooting practice."

Belladonna summoned a fire imp between her paws; it was obvious the little thing was desperate to escape. The hellish dog then literally shot the imp out of the mirror; Manfred lost no time to shoot his spear at the imp, impaling it perfectly. The imp yelled in pain as Manfred pulled it closer to him; once it was right in front of the Boxer, the imp got destroyed by the green orb power.

"That was fun." Manfred turned back at Belladonna, enjoying his first kill.

"Not just fun, but remarkable." Belladonna grinned. "You notice how your spear is moving now?"

Manfred looked at his spear and the cable, and realized it was moving on its own, similar to a large snake, while going back to glowing red before returning inside Manfred's paw.

"Your weapon is more than just a tool, Manfred; it's a living being, fused to your soul and body... and as any living creature, it needs nourishment; food. And you feed it every time you use it to kill, increasing its power along with yours. However, it has some limitations, like being unable to hurt intangible beings and spirits... unless you feed it with a good dosage of magical dust." Belladonna got back her devilish smirk. "In other words, you now have a weapon that can kill Bess, even if she uses her ghost powers to protect herself; she'll not be waiting for you to have this kind of advantage, so you'll have the surprise element on your side. Not to mention the spear will also be able to make you even more powerful if you feed it enough times; powerful enough to rival Itchy's weaponry."

"Then... I need to make a few more kills... or maybe, a lot of them." Manfred grinned evilly. "Mmm... you think the city will miss a few thousand rats?"

"Oh, I love your initiative, Manfred." Belladonna cackled slightly. "Okay, go to the sewers and have some fun; just remember, limit yourself to rats for now; if you kill a human, dog or cat, Annabelle will sense that death, and send her guardian angels to investigate."

"Okay... by the way, can't you magically walk out of the mirror?" Manfred asked her.

"I wish I could; I'm stuck in Hell because of my stupid cousin and her angels messing with a previous plan of mine." Belladonna lost her cool for a moment, growling slightly at the memory. "I'd probably be able to escape if using the right spells and having enough energy, but that would make me very noticeable to Annabelle's powers; she's a stupid goody-goody, but she's a dangerous stupid goody-goody. I wouldn't stand a chance against her if she attacks me right after escaping Hell."

"Why, what happened?" Manfred asked her, definitely interested.

"I was trying to recruit the Anti-Christ, who was born a Black Labrador Puppy, but then Annabelle sent her meddlesome Guardian Angel, Charlie Barkin, and his girlfriend turned Super Powered Guardian Angel, Sasha La Fleur. Annabelle found out I was after the Anti-Christ, and I almost achieved my goal, until they came to stop me and we broke out into a fight with that elastic mutt, and I think I could have destroyed that annoying rubber pest, until her boyfriend gained Elemental powers from my goody-two-shoes cousin. Then he and that little runt opened a portal to Hell and they sealed me away." Belladonna explained Manfred, hate evident in her voice, especially when mentioning her enemies' names; Manfred realized she tried to call them by insulting nicknames rather than mentioning their actual names when possible.

"Wow... talking about a serious backfire... And why the Anti-Christ was a dog and not a human, if Christ was born a man?"

"Oh, one of those cosmic designs to try making a complete opposite of the good guy; instead of a human male, the Anti-Christ came as an animal one. Still, that shows how hard it is to keep things secret from my meddlesome cousin, as she found out the Anti-Christ's new identity as fast as I did myself, despite that being a natural detection for me due the dark nature of his powers."

Manfred nodded at his Mistress, deciding to stop questioning her by the moment. It was obvious she was still quite bitter about that defeat, and the Boxer wouldn't blame her even if he could.

"I see your point. Okay, guess I already took too much of your time. I'll go feed the spear now." Manfred nodded at her and then used his smoke transformation to send his body through the old building's floor's cracks and right back to the sewers.

Belladonna couldn't help but sigh in relief once he left. Even a super evil hellish creature like herself needed to vent some steam once in a while, and it was... comfortable (she wouldn't allow herself to call it 'nice') to tell these things to Manfred, someone who wouldn't criticize, mock or look down at her due this defeat; of course, she would punish him severely if doing that, but it was another comfortable situation for her that Manfred had enough common sense to know his place and not trying to get too self-important with her.

A couple minutes later, Belladonna grinned and closed her eyes in pleasure when hearing the squeaking cries of dozens of rodents as they were destroyed and their life forces increased her protegee's might.

"It's great to find someone who loves his work.. heh, one of the very few times I'm fine using the word 'love'." Belladonna cackled evilly as she finally disappeared from the mirror to send herself back to the sewers' dark waters to watch Manfred's vermin carnage.

A while later, as Manfred took a little break after pretty much eliminating every rodent in the ten streets around the old magic store, Belladonna moved to another part of the hellish reign. Even if she was sealed and therefore, by the time being, unable to personally going to Earth (except for her reflection, and only for limited time), she still could move around Hell without much problem.

After watching Annabelle's protegees training, the evil canine gal realized Manfred would need even more power in order to defeat them; the modifications to his spear would help him against Itchy and Bess, and once having enough energy, his fire and ice abilities would be capable of stopping Sasha, as extreme heat and cold could damage rubber and similar materials, like an elastic body, but Charlie's abilities were still a problem; Manfred would probably fight him evenly once fully charged, but Belladonna wasn't willing to give the 'other side' a fighting chance. In order to counter Charlie's Elemental powers, Manfred would an extra something.

Belladonna grinned when arriving at her destination; a fiery pit, filled up with magma. She had used this material to create Manfred's power amulets, and now would make a new one... however, this wouldn't be that easy, since she had already taken too much material, and this particular pit had a guardian, one that wasn't nice enough to share... then again, it was expected, considering the residence.

"Belladonna..." The hellish dog turned when hearing the voice of the guardian; a huge brimstone-breathing monster, similar to a gorilla, but with several horns and spikes, his body made entirely of molten rock.

"Hello, Magnamus. I decided to visit you again..." Belladonna's manipulative talking was interrupted by the monster's fist impacting a couple of feet next to her.

"And get more of my magma, right? You already got enough!" Magnamus roared at the female.

"But I'm gonna pay..."

"Hah! Like last time? You paid me with this." Magnamus opened his chest, revealing the screaming, tortured souls of several fire imps. "There are hundreds of fire imps here. Their souls are nothing but pennies to me!"

Belladonna groaned in annoyance. In Hell, the damned souls were the equivalent of currency, explaining why so many demons tried to buy souls, or trick mortals into selling them in exchange of tricky favors, but now that her access to Earth was blocked, Belladonna had little chances to get more, so she had to use her fire imps, that were souls as well, to make business with other hellish citizens, but as Magnamus said, the imps were born in Hell, and therefore their souls weren't nearly half as valuable as those coming from former living beings.

"Magnamus, I promise you a dozen fresh souls once my plan gets to work. Think about this as a loan..."

"You think I look like a banker?" Magnamus moved his massive face in front of Belladonna's.

"Well, from this angle and with the right light..." Belladonna smirked, her attempt of humor/sarcasm not pleasing Magnamus at all. "It seems you're not cooperating this time, so, instead of doing business... how about we make a bet? If I win, you give me free access to your magma, and if you win, I'll give you the soul of my newest protegee."

It was a very risky move, but at the moment, Belladonna couldn't think about anything else of her property that was valuable enough to tempt Magnamus. It seemed to work, as the fiery giant got a thinking expression a moment later.

"Interesting... a new protegee... A Hellish Pupil is very valuable, Belladonna; your newest scheme must be quite important to you if you're willing to make this bet." Magnamus smirked at the dog before chuckling a bit, large amounts of brimstone smoke coming out of his mouth as he did. "Fine, I accept your terms. But I'll decide what bet we're doing."

"It's a deal." Belladonna smirked back. "So, what idea do you have for the bet?"

"First, show me your protegee." Magnamus made a hand move and summoned a small fire ball, that worked pretty much as Belladonna's mirrors, showing them images of Earth. Belladonna nodded and used her powers to focus on Manfred's image, the Boxer practicing with his spear after feeding it with the last rat he found at a nearby basement.

"Heh, you're making a plan with this guy? I've found bigger stuff stuck in my teeth after a meal." Magnamus' brimstone breath covered Belladonna as he laughed again. "This will be easy. The bet is simple; in order to win... your pupil must survive."

Magnamus covered the fireball with one of his hands, and made it glow with dark flames.

Back on Earth, Manfred suddenly felt the temperature's increasing. He looked around, thinking the heat was coming from some external source; when finding none, touched his chest, thinking it was his fire power acting without control... and realized it wasn't the case. The ground next to him then started overheating.

"Belladonna? Mistress? It's that you..." Manfred stopped talking when a portion of the ground seemed to be moving by its own, and then started standing up as a lava beast; the creature looked a lot like a baboon, but considerably larger, and covered in flames.

Before Manfred could talk again, the monster opened its jaws, and a massive flame engulfed the Boxer; out of instinct, Manfred summoned an ice dome around him, protecting himself from the attack. The ice was turned into vapor, giving Manfred the idea of turning himself into smoke to avoid the monster pouncing on him. Once he was at a safe distance, Manfred changed back to solid and hit the monster with one of his green orbs, stunning it but without making a big damage. The Boxer then used the vapor and his rain powers to create a thunderstorm cloud on top of the creature, and making it rain heavily over his enemy; the baboon yelled in pain as the water lowered its temperature and extinguished the flames; as an extra, Manfred used his ice powers to make the water extremely cold. Then, Manfred made the thunderstorm attack the creature with powerful lightning, the beast actually losing its arms when a volt hit them; Manfred lost no time to use his spear, hitting the monster right in the chest and then using his new found life-sucking power to absorb the creature's energy. After a couple of seconds, the monster was reduced to a life-less statue, as it was made of molten rock and, without the hellish energy to animate it, there was nothing left but the raw material.

"Get over here." Manfred pulled the statue in front of him, and once it was close enough, the Boxer punched it with his free hand/paw, reducing it to debris in an instant. "Heh... if this was an enemy, it was a very weak one. And if this was Belladonna's idea of training... hope she was pleased with the result."

"Oh, I am."

Manfred turned his back, spotting Belladonna's image appearing on a broken glass.

"A training session, Mistress?" Manfred grinned at her.

"Yes, and you did a remarkable work using your powers in a real battle scenario; I know the test was a bit... rough and dangerous, but this is the best way to prove your abilities, at random moments and against hard opponents." Belladonna said with a sly grin. "You can rest for the rest of the night, Manfred. I'll have a new toy for you tomorrow."

Manfred smirked at Belladonna, nodding at her before she disappeared from the glass. The Boxer shook his head and decided to go take a nap; he had to admit, this was a very stimulating experience, and a good idea to practice one of the many ways he'd probably use to eliminate his enemies.

Back in Hell, Belladonna smirked at Magnamus, who said nothing before leaving the place, allowing Belladonna full access to the magic magma pit. The diabolical female then used her powers to take a large amount of magma in her hands/paws, and morph it into a very special helmet.

"This magma absorbs energy and increases the abilities of whoever is holding it." Belladonna grinned, talking to herself while looking at her finished work. "Let's see if Chuckie boy likes it when he uses his elemental attacks on Manfred, and every hit only makes my champion even stronger."

Belladonna's evil laugh was heard throughout the whole underworld.


	5. The Wedding Crasher

Chapter 5 - The Wedding Crasher

Finally, the day of the wedding arrived. Charlie was getting ready at home, looking at himself in the mirror after dressing up in the tuxedo he got as a wedding present from a tailor's dog that he and Itchy had helped in the past.  
>"Heh, Charlie, you sly dog, you look fantastic." Charlie said to himself, admiring his reflection. "And if you look this good, Sasha must look a hundred times better in her dress... too bad you hadn't seen her in almost 2 days but..."<br>"Tradition, Charlie, tradition." Annabelle appeared in the mirror, smirking at Charlie, who jumped back at the surprise.  
>"Oh, a pre-wedding scare, Annabelle?" Charlie grinned back.<br>"Just to help you relax before the ceremony. I've seen more than one groom getting cold feet at the last moment, or just plain fainting right before getting married." Annabelle smiled. "I know it's not your case, but better safe than sorry."  
>"The philosophy that invented the parachutes." Charlie chuckled. "Don't worry, Annabelle, this groom is more than ready to meet my gal at the altar."<br>"Okay then. You can use your powers to get over there already, while I go see the guests. Itchy and Bess are waiting for me right now." Annabelle smiled. "See you in a while."  
>Charlie shook his head yet kept his smile as Annabelle left the mirror. The groom then used his Elemental Powers to teleport himself to Heaven, eager for the ceremony to start already.<br>Meanwhile, Bess and Itchy were meeting the last guests, all of them gathering at an old warehouse; they first thought about doing this in an alley or at Sasha's club/restaurant, but there were so many guests they needed more space.  
>"Hey, Itch, sorry I'm late." A white and light brown Boxer called Coffee, one of the many dogs assisted by Annabelle's protegees over the years, arrived the last, completing the guests' list.<br>"It's okay, Coffee. We know you live the other side of the city, so it's natural you'd not be among the first ones." Itchy said to him. "We'll leave in a moment."  
>"Coffee?" Bess arched an eyebrow at Itchy once the other dog went to chat with the rest of the guests.<br>"His master owns a cafeteria. Who am I to judge him, if I'm named after the sensation that makes you to scratch yourself?" Itchy shrugged, Bess chuckling a bit at his comment.  
>Less than a couple of minutes later, Annabelle appeared at the warehouse, hovering over all the guests; even if they already knew this would be, literally, a wedding made in Heaven, all the dogs but Itchy and Bess were more than a little surprised at the appearance of a celestial being.<br>"Glad to see you all here for this ceremony." Annabelle talked in a nice, sweet tone before getting a bit more serious. "Now, just a little bit of warning before we leave; as Itchy and Bess already explained to all of you, I'll give you special badges so you can be admitted in Heaven despite not being... among the living, yet." Annabelle avoided saying 'Dead' on purpose, knowing it wouldn't be the nicest thing to say before a wedding. "Since these badges will also protect you from special circumstances that make Heaven a very hard-to-be place for any non spiritual being, I want you all to be very careful with them, and not lose them. I put the badges in special collars, so even those among you that normally wear no collar will have no problems to hold them; however, since, due the very same reason, many of you aren't used to collars, please resist the urges to scratch or trying to remove them, so we don't have any unlikable incident."  
>Once all the dogs expressed their agreement with Annabelle's indications, the heavenly canine used her powers to materialize the collars and badges, all of them flying towards the guest they were specifically made for. The collars attached magically to the dogs; it was very comfortable for the canines, but, as Annabelle told them, the collars could still be unlocked like any normal, Earthly one, so a very strong scratching or a direct hit in the right spot would remove the collar; Annabelle made them this easy to remove in case the dogs that weren't used to the collars could be assisted in case of getting stuck on any place.<br>"Okay, we're ready now. Everyone, follow me." Annabelle said while summoning a portal, with a literal stairway to Heaven on it; luckily, it was an electric-like one, so no dog would actually need walking up several miles to attend the wedding. "And Itchy, you stay on the back to be sure nobody stays and that no stranger sees this portal before I close it. Bess, you use your ghost powers to fly next to the stairway and watch all the dogs so nobody falls by accident."  
>Bess and Itchy nodded at Annabelle, and a few moments later, the dogs formed a line on the stairway to start ascending. As Annabelle told Bess, the ghostly canine gal started flying up and watching the other dogs, which was a very good idea since a few of them, curious about how high they were moving up, couldn't resist the temptation to get a look over the stairway's handrail, producing two reactions; either the curious canine got too excited and leaned too much, risking a fall, or got extremely scared at the height and froze on the spot. In both cases, Bess had to assist the dogs, either lecturing the too bold ones or comforting the scared ones.<br>Itchy was the last one to get on board of the stairway, giving a fast look around before the portal closed. Unknown to him and Annabelle, little portions of Heavenly Magic were now floating out of the warehouse before getting absorbed by Belladonna's amulets. The hellish gal cackled evilly before appearing in a mirror behind Manfred, her diabolical protegee already dressed with the special outfit she designed for the occasion, including the magical helmet that would allow him to absorb Charlie's attacks.  
>"It's time, Manfred. Get ready for a great power surge." Belladonna grinned at her protegee.<br>"Give me the whole juice, My Mistress." Manfred smirked before noticing all the amulets he had hidden all around the city flying on his direction, each one charged with a significant charge of celestial power and corrupted by the amulets' evil magic. Manfred opened his arms/paws, ready to receive them, and then the amulets started fusing with him, hitting the Boxer's chest like dozens of high caliber weaponry's bullets, but without hurting him; in fact, Manfred felt more powerful by the second, his eyes glowing with dark fire while receiving all the amulets. Once he absorbed the last one, Manfred was so strong that a random stomp of his created a little crater on the ground.  
>"Heh-heh-heh... this power... I feel so strong now... I'd probably eat Godzilla alive at this moment!" Manfred laughed evilly.<br>"Interesting idea for a hobby." Belladonna grinned before summoning a dark wooden box in her paws. "Now, before you leave, I have one last thing for you. Think about it as..."  
>"Your own wedding present for the happy couple?" Manfred smirked before taking the box from the mirror.<br>"I might be evil, Manfred, but I have manners; no guest should arrive without a gift, and that includes the uninvited guests. Hope my cousin has enough food at the reception, because you're gonna arrive with your own group, and they'll be hungry." Belladonna shared a last evil glance with Manfred, the Boxer holding the box in his hands/paws and actually caressing a bit, eager to open it.  
>In Heaven, Charlie was already at his place at the altar, smiling as all the guests arrived; he made a signal to Itchy to join him the moment the Dachshund arrived, the stairway to Heaven disappearing behind the best mandog.  
>"Okay, Charlie, this is it; the great moment. Nervous?"<br>"Not at all, Itch... unless you forgot the wedding 'ring'." Charlie half-joked.  
>"I have it right here." Itchy used his weapon-summoning power in a way he had been practicing; instead of summoning a weapon, he could summon any object he had stored in a safe place; in this case, it was to summon a golden collar, not too thick and very elegant looking, that would work as the equivalent of a wedding ring for Sasha.<br>"Heh, then, no reason to be nervous." Charlie grinned before getting a nice, friendly smile at his buddy. "Thanks for being here with me today, Itch."  
>"I wouldn't be anywhere else, Charlie." Itchy smiled back, happy for being Charlie's best mandog and sharing this special moment with him.  
>A minute later, everyone heard a heavenly music and a choir of angels, signaling Sasha's arrival. Charlie turned to look at her, the bride standing at the other side of the aisle... and Charlie was more sure than ever that they were in Heaven, since Sasha looked so beautiful she couldn't possibly come from any other place.<br>Sasha's dress came from her own powers, modifying a wedding dress she had chosen from a magazine; it was pure white, with a long tail, and it fit her in a way that both her figure and natural beauty was considerably enhanced; she wore small white gloves in her front paws and crystal-like slippers in her back ones: a thin veil covered her face, but it was still translucent enough for Charlie to see her features, her bright and beautiful eyes, and the loving smile she had at the moment. To make it an even bigger effect, Sasha walked in a very stylish, elegant way, with Bess right next to her, and two angel puppies holding the dress' tail while another one moved in front of the bride to throw flower's petals all over the aisle as she was walking it. Except for Itchy`s occasional glances at Bess, every pair of eyes was on Sasha as she approached the altar... nobody noticing a creature that was already hard to see if paying attention; this being, that seemed to be made of solid air, was only barely noticeable when making the Heaven's clouds to move slightly as he passed through them.  
>Annabelle, being a high level archangel, was more than suited to officiate the wedding; she floated all the way to the altar, placing herself in front of the couple and getting their attention back to the business at hand, since both Charlie and Sasha couldn't stop staring lovingly at each other when the bride arrived at her place at the altar, and they were so focused on each other that they practically ignored the rest of the world. Itchy had to cover his muzzle and Bess rolled her eyes as they both made an effort to stop themselves from laughing at Charlie and Sasha's faces when Annabelle got their attention back to the ceremony.<br>The Heavenly Gal started the ceremony, congratulating Sasha and Charlie, and thanking everyone's presence. Unlike some preachers, Annabelle could officiate in a very nice, not boring way, thanks to her experience at these matters and her nice voice; even Charlie and Sasha, who were still looking at each other most of the time, gave her enough attention during the ceremony, especially when Annabelle asked Itchy to give Charlie the wedding collar. Once the groom got it, he put it around Sasha's neck in a nice, tender way, his lips very close to hers, and only her veil stopping them from kissing right at that moment.  
>"Charlie, do you compromise yourself to love and respect Sasha for the rest of your lives, in prosperity and sickness, for better and worse, until death do you part?" Annabelle said, while thinking this couple would still be together in the afterlife; being an archangel with several thousand years of expertise and the fact that practically all dogs went to Heaven (minus very rare exceptions) made this a very logic thinking.<br>"I do." Charlie replied; his eyes never stopped staring at Sasha's.  
>"Sasha, the same question." Annabelle got a few surprised looks; she just shrugged and smiled. "Hey, you already know the question; why repeating it?"<br>"Good thinking, Annabelle; and yes, of course I do." Sasha replied, staring at Charlie's eyes as well.  
>"If any of you know a reason why these two dogs shouldn't get married, start barking now, or get muzzled forever." Annabelle gave a quick scan to the crowd and, noticing nobody was saying a word, got back to the ceremony; even she couldn't notice a very quiet growl coming from someone nobody had found yet.<br>"Then, by the power endowed in me by Heaven, and without any objections to this marriage, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife." Annabelle smiled at the couple. "Now, before you two explode in expectation, Charlie, you may kiss the bride."  
>"You're the Boss, Annabelle." Charlie chuckled at the archangel's words before removing Sasha's veil, and the moment there was nothing between them, the newly wed couple kissed in love and passion for almost 3 minutes, non-stop, as the crowd clapped, barked, and cheered in happiness.<br>When Charlie and Sasha finally broke the kiss, everyone heard a loud, evil howling. Annabelle instantly got a worried look.  
>"That sound... is a Hell Hound! But... it's impossible! No way any of them can enter here undetected..."<br>"Well, this is Heaven after all, isn't it? Miracles happen, both for the good guys and the bad ones."  
>Annabelle froze at the spot. This evil voice was coming from right behind her; before she could turn back, she felt horrible, agonizing pain in her back, so sudden she didn't have time to react, or even yell; Charlie and Sasha, being right in front of her, noticed her expression and how her body felt limp, the archangel completely knocked out.<br>"ANNA..." Charlie and Sasha's yelling was cut by Annabelle's body getting thrown against them, the impact so hard it sent the archangel and the couple several feet away from the altar. Itchy, being at one side, noticed the large wound on Annabelle's back as she passed next to him.  
>Itchy and Bess were about to jump into action when they finally noticed the attacker's weapon; a spear that seemed to float on mid air... at least, until the invisible creature holding it started making himself visible; when they recognized him, the couple almost froze at the spot, just like the guests that were looking at them instead of helping the newly weds and Annabelle.<br>"I know I should have attacked her before... but she was doing such a nice ceremony, I didn't want to interrupt." Manfred smirked at Itchy before grinning evilly at Bess. "Hello, Bess; you look fine. Long time without seeing you... at least, at this distance."  
>"M-Manfred?" Bess paled in fear and didn't react as Manfred pointed at her with the spear; she was so shocked she didn't even notice the spear was practically fused with his paw.<br>"GET OVER HERE!" Manfred practically roared as the spear was shot against her. Itchy barely had time to react and push Bess out of the way while dodging the attack.  
>"I don't know how you got here, Manfred, but I'll show you the exit!" Itchy growled at Manfred before charging at him. The Boxer was so surprised by his opponent's lightning speed he had no time to cover himself from a barrage of punches and kicks, Itchy finishing the attack with a roundhouse kick that sent him flying; despite hitting his enemy more than 20 times, Itchy needed less than 3 seconds to perform these moves.<br>The moment Manfred seemed to hit the ground, the Boxer transformed into smoke, moving himself a few feet in front of Itchy. The Dachshund was pretty surprised at this, and even more when Manfred reformed without any visible damage.  
>"Good kicking for a dog with so short legs." Manfred grinned before summoning a green energy orb, shooting it at Itchy, who then summoned a shield in the last moment, protecting himself from the orb's explosion; it still carried enough power to take Itchy back a few steps.<br>By this moment, several angels were already around Manfred and Itchy, and some helping move the guests to a safe place. Manfred noticed this and got a fake scared face.  
>"Oh, no. I didn't think about this. I'm surrounded by guardian angels. My plan is ruined." Manfred said in an overly dramatic way before using his smoke powers to form a little cloud in his paws; when the smoke disappeared, he was holding Belladonna's box. "Oh, wait, I forgot something. Silly me. I brought my own guests. You know how this works, Itchy; you invite one, and that one invites a dozen... or two dozens... or a hundred..."<br>Manfred grinned evilly before opening the box; a sinister howling came from the inside, and soon that lonely howl became a thousand, as several shadowy creatures emerged from it at high speed. Once separating a bit from the box, each shadow took the form of a huge iron-furred wolf, with red eyes and glowing jaws.  
>"Meet my pack; The Iron Wolf Mongers. Now, let me show you Heavenly dorks how to have real fun." Manfred grinned before getting a commanding tone. "MONGERS, DESTROY!"<br>The massive battle started with Manfred and Itchy in the middle of it, while the angels tried their best against the wolves. Bess finally reacted from her shock and joined the fight, shooting Manfred right in the chest with one of her spectral beams, but the villain got just slightly stunned; the ghostly gal tried to attack again but had to back off due 3 wolves charging at her. Itchy couldn't assist her because Manfred was already attacking him again, throwing punches, kicks and bites so fast that Itchy had to move at top speed to block and dodge; at some point, Manfred actually managed to get the upper paw on him and pin Itchy down, but every single time, the Dachshund managed to escape at the right moment to avoid getting crushed by the next attack.  
>"Impressed, uh?" Manfred mocked Itchy while shooting more of his destructive orbs at him, the Dachshund doing impressive jumps to avoid getting hit. "I just absorbed Annabelle's energy, Moron; my body transformed her magic into pure raw power. You can't best me!"<br>Manfred wide-opened his muzzle to shoot his fiery breath at Itchy, but he was cut by a blast of cold wind; in fact, Arctic cold wind.  
>"Hey, Manfred, cool down!" Charlie, already recovered from the first strike, flew in front of Manfred, placing himself between the villain and Itchy, and stopped the fire attack with his own, plus partially freezing Manfred's chest. Itchy lost no time and jumped over Charlie, hitting Manfred's chest with a powerful double kick that sent him away, but made no real damage.<br>"Oh, you want to cool down? My pleasure." Manfred then used his helmet's power to absorb the energy from the Arctic temperature, and then shot his own ice attack, forming large, sharp icicle projectiles; Charlie changed his arms into metal and crossed them in front of his body, protecting both Itchy and himself.  
>Manfred shot his spear again, but this time it was intercepted by Sasha's elongated arm. The elastic canine no longer had her wedding dress, as she had changed again into her superheroic outfit.<br>"ITCHY, CUT IT!" Sasha literally barked the order while holding the spear as the cable moved like a wild snake trying to trap her in a constrictor hug. Itchy lost no time and summoned his Tanto, cutting the cable.  
>"That hurt... NOT!" Manfred growled while shooting a second spear from his other handpaw, aiming at Itchy; he blocked this attack with the Tanto Sheath, but the spear destroyed it. Since Itchy had made the sheath as resistant as the weapon itself, he realized immediately that Manfred's spear had to be, at least, as sharp and resistant as most of his own blades.  
>Charlie was about to jump over Manfred again but two wolves pounced over him from behind. Luckily, Sasha spotted them and hit them away by hitting them with her paws turned into huge mallets. Sasha then realized the wolves breathed fire, giving her an idea to stop them.<br>"Charlie, remember the Fantastic Four's movie; what happens when you rapidly cool super hot metal?"  
>"Heh, this is why I allow you to choose the movies." Charlie grinned before the dot on his suit turned into the symbol for water and sent a wave of super cold water all around them, hitting the wolves and dropping their body temperature almost immediately, transforming them into immobile statues. Unfortunately, since there were literally thousands of wolves, not all of them got hit by the water and they continued fighting the angels; luckily, the latter ones, being used to cold temperatures already thanks to them usually walking and flying through extremely cold clouds (filled up with ice crystals) were mostly unaffected so now they had the numerical advantage.<br>"Nice statues, Charlie."  
>Charlie, Sasha, Itchy and Bess started looking around, hearing Manfred's voice but being unable to locate him.<br>"Wanna see one of mine?"  
>Sasha then got a choked expression and grabbed her throat with both paws, gasping for air. Before anyone could do anything to help her, Manfred became visible again, his paws around Sasha's neck, and his ice power already working. Less than 2 seconds later, Sasha was frozen solid.<br>"SASHA!" Charlie charged at Manfred, who avoided the attack by turning himself into smoke again. However, this time Itchy was ready, and summoned a metallic fan with sharp, blade-like edges; he moved it at high speed, creating his own gust of wind and hitting Manfred's smoky form with it and forcing the villain to change back to solid form. Bess jumped over him and turned herself intangible to enter his body and possess him, but she was repealed almost instantly; Manfred's dark powers, strengthened by the energy he stole from Annabelle, made him strong enough to resist this technique.  
>Charlie, already enraged, lost whatever restrain he still had about using his powers full force, and jumped over Bess, who was trying to recover from the shock.<br>"Itchy, protect Sasha; Bess, your ghostly shield!"  
>Bess obeyed the order and protected everyone around her with her force field while Charlie's dot symbol started glowing with high intensity before shooting a blast of pure, unrestrained elemental energy at Manfred; it was enough power to make a clean tunnel through the Himalayas, but Manfred just...<br>Laughed.  
>Everyone looked in shock as Manfred cackled evilly and a dark aura formed around him.<br>"THANKS FOR THE EXTRA JUICE, CHARLIE!"  
>Before Charlie could react, Manfred rammed him at high speed, impacting the Elemental Hero with a force almost equal to the blast's hit. Charlie had to be captured by two angels as he was sent flying several yards away.<br>Itchy and Bess looked back at Manfred, who now was using his ice powers to form a dome around them. It was the cleanest, most crystal-like ice they had ever seen, but still so thick it would take a lot of energy and a special weapon to break it.  
>"Sorry about the theatrics, but I thought my boss would like watching this." Manfred grinned at the couple, and, then a very happy diabolical canine's image appeared in the dome; in fact, due to the dome being so big, she could form multiple images, all of them talking at once like a chorus.<br>"Aw, what a nice sculpture, Manfred," Belladonna grinned while looking at Sasha's frozen form, and then, thanks to the ice being crystal-like, and therefore could be used as one in the exterior as well, the evil gal looked around the battle area, spotting those already down for the count, "Oh, and you already said 'Hello' to my cousin; I see this ceremony was very tiring for her, since she's already sleeping."  
>"Belladonna..." Itchy growled at the many images around him and Bess, yet without losing sight of Manfred at any time, "All this just to stop a wedding? Every time I think you went low enough, you find a way to get deeper down!"<br>"You're getting good with the analogies, Itchy; oh, and congrats on the new powers. You like the ones I gave to Manfred? I can be quite generous, don't you think?" Belladonna smirked, still with her mocking tone. "And you're right, this would be too much for just disturbing a wedding, unless it helps me with an even greater goal; getting rid of those who can stop me from recapturing the Anti-Christ."  
>"YOU'RE STILL ON THAT?" Itchy would have attacked her at the spot if not knowing these were just images and the real Belladonna was safe in Hell.<br>"What can I say? I'm consistent." Belladonna grinned. "And Charlie, my dear cousin's first and favorite Earthly guardian angel, will be a welcome bonus; with his energy and the Anti-Christ's powers at my disposition, I'll be able to not just escape from this infernal seal, but to rule the Earth and corrupt every single living thing on this planet."  
>"You really are in love with your own voice, aren't you?" Itchy separated from Bess and Sasha and approached Manfred while still talking with Belladonna. "And let me guess; you're telling me all of this because you know there's no way we can stop you, especially with Sasha here frozen solid, Charlie injured and Annabelle out of action."<br>"Yes, Itchy; my, you're becoming quite smart. Too bad your brains aren't enough to defeat us." Belladonna grinned while Manfred got ready to pounce on the Dachshund.  
>"But they're enough to help Sasha. Bess, out of the dome, now!" Itchy barked; Bess used her intangibility to escape the dome, and Belladonna gave a second look to Sasha's body from a different angle, spotting a weapon Itchy had summoned and attached to Sasha's body; an incendiary bomb.<br>"I'm working on summoning modern weaponry; and this one has a counter." Itchy jumped over Manfred, using his body to shield himself from the coming explosion.  
><strong>BOOM!<br>**Manfred used his helmet to absorb the explosion's heat and force, but it was still enough to shatter the dome and melt Sasha. The villainous Boxer turned at Itchy to attack him, but a powerful miniature hurricane carried him away, as now Charlie was able to enter the dome's remains.  
>"Charlie, Belladonna's behind all this! You and Bess go back to Earth; she's going after Jake!" Itchy said to his friend while summoning a mace and charging at Manfred. Sasha, already in fighting conditions, nodded at Charlie in approval and joined Itchy.<br>Even if Charlie and Bess wanted to help their friends and significant others, they both knew that, without Annabelle to fight Belladonna, the Elemental and Ghost powers were the best options to battle the Hellish Archangel, while it was obvious by now that Manfred only gained more power from Charlie's attacks, and Bess' abilities were mostly useless against him, so they wouldn't do any good against the traitorous invader.  
>Belladonna didn't realize at first that Charlie and Bess were leaving since, as she depended on the ice mirrors created by Manfred's powers to get a look at the scene, she no longer had a clean, crystal-like surface due to the dome getting destroyed and the remaining ice being opaqued by the vapors of the melted one. Manfred didn't realize it either because now he had both Itchy and Sasha attacking him at once, and the Boxer had to shoot a variety of his energy attacks (ice, fire, destructive orbs and so) to keep them at bay, all his attention focused on his opponents and not noticing anything else.<br>However, once the vapors dissipated, there was enough clean ice for Belladonna to appear on it again.  
>"Manfred, don't stop attacking! Your helmet doesn't help you absorb physical attacks, just energy ones!" Belladonna barked at her protegee, reminding him of his helmet's one weakness, so Manfred wouldn't get overconfident and allow himself to be hit by Sasha and Itchy's attacks in order to increase his might, as he did with Charlie's elemental power, and even if Manfred, at this time, was incredibly powerful due the energy he absorbed from Annabelle and Charlie, he could be injured if Itchy and Sasha managed to hit him enough times.<br>As the fight continued, Belladonna changed her focus to Charlie and Bess, or more precisely, looking for them, the evil canine knowing that it wasn't good for her plans if they were absent instead of helping fight Manfred. Due all the statue-changed wolves around, it wasn't easy to get a clear sight, but Belladonna eventually managed to catch a glimpse of Charlie's tail as he entered the same portal that the angels had opened to save all the wedding's guests.  
>"They're going back to Earth... oh, no, not this time." Belladonna growled, realizing they were on their way to protect her main target, the Anti-Christ.<br>In the meantime, Manfred had managed to keep Itchy on the defensive with his fire attacks, forcing Itchy to summon a battle shield to cover himself from the flames. However, this attack was cut by Sasha's arm morphing into a muzzle, covering Manfred's muzzle and stopping the flames; Manfred started resisting but Sasha lifted him over her head, and several feet up, by stretching her arms, and then smashed him against the solid clouds that served as the ground. Manfred, despite the pain, wasn't unconscious, so he charged his paws with his ice power to try freezing Sasha again, but Itchy lost no time and hit him in the head with the shield; if Manfred hadn't been so charged by the stolen heavenly power, he would have lost the battle right there.  
>"Manfred, Smoke!" Belladonna barked at him, making the Boxer to react and change into smoke to escape Sasha's grip and avoid a second strike from Itchy; this time, however, Manfred didn't remain in smoke form for long, knowing by now that Itchy could use his weapons to force him back to solid. "Charlie and Bess are escaping to Earth; you must get to Jake before they do!"<br>Manfred howled with such force that Itchy and Sasha had to cover their ears to protect themselves from the extremely loud noise. The howling, however, wasn't actually intended to hurt them, but to call the remaining wolves and make them attack the elastic and the ninja canines. Sasha and Itchy tried to catch him, but several wolves charged at them, and Sasha had to morph into a gigantic form to keep them at bay while Itchy summoned weapons powerful enough to defeat these wolves without depending on Charlie's freezing abilities.  
>Belladonna urged Manfred to escape as several angels tried to attack him; her protegee turned himself invisible, so they couldn't find him as the Boxer literally jumped down to Earth. Without the portalstairway, Manfred depended on his own powers and the stolen heavenly power to descend safely; however, despite the rush, he still was smart enough to create a little ice mirror between his paws, that would help him continue communicating with Belladonna.  
>"Don't go directly with Jake; even if you can get there before Charlie and Bess, I doubt you'll be able to fight them and keep your prisoner at the same time. You'll need help." Belladonna instructed him.<br>"You'll give me more hellish minions?" Manfred asked, not losing his cool despite falling down to Earth at high speed.  
>"No; this time, you'll provide yourself with the minions; you need to find someone you can charge with your evil powers. If this person, or dog, is dumb enough, you'll be able to control himher completely."  
>"I know the right candidates. Just explain me how to do this powering thing and I'll do the rest." Manfred said, already having a good idea about where to find some brainless muscle to help him.<br>Back on Earth, at a junkyard, three large, wolfish dogs were enjoying the food they had stolen from other canines that day. Two of them wore vests, one blue and the other red, while the third one wore a spiky collar; the one with the collar had a yellowish fur while the others had it brown, the dog in blue having a reddish brown fur while the other's was pretty dark.  
>The dogs' feast was cut by an explosion behind them. When turning back, more curious than scared, the trio noticed Manfred emerging from a brimstone-scented crater. The Boxer grinned when spotting the larger canines.<br>"The Wild Pack. I see you're still the same; strong as oxes, and almost as smart." Manfred smirked before using his abilities to form three little amulets, energized by small portions of his own power. "Here, Boys; catch."  
>The Wild Pack was ready to pummel Manfred for invading their territory when the hellish pupil threw the amulets at them, each one getting a life of its own and flying around the pack. Then, the amulets charged at the trio, each dog getting hit by an amulet each, and in a split second, the amulets had fused with their bodies. The dogs yelled in pain and rage as they got covered by a dark mantle emerging from their very insides, a mantle that slowly started morphing into a battle armor. Unlike Manfred's outfit, these armors looked a lot more mechanical, and as they covered the dogs' bodies, they also changed their flesh and bone into metal.<br>Each of the armors was in a different color; the largest dog's was now a silver armored robotic canine, the yellowish fur dog was changed into a yellow one, and the last dog's was red. Manfred smirked at his work and approached the pack, the trio no longer moving and staying on their place like statues.  
>"A very good job, even if it's not good if I say it myself... then again, I'm evil." Manfred grinned and then got a commanding tone. "Metal Wild Pack, Activate!"<br>The robotic trio's eyes glowed an unnatural, bright red tone, as the dogs got back to moving and instantly getting a military posture, listening at Manfred and waiting for orders.  
>"Now, let's see if you guys are as dangerous as you look like." Manfred grinned and started walking away. "Metal Wild Pack... come with me!"<br>After saying this, Manfred ran away at high speed, and the transformed pack chased after him, keeping up with his pace; despite being a lot heavier now they had been changed into metal, the trio could move faster than a speeding motorcycle, with Manfred staying a bit ahead of them.  
>"Hope you like music, Charlie," Manfred smirked while running, "because you and Bess will have a night of pure heavy metal.. if you can actually survive this night."<p> 


	6. On The Run: The Anti - Christ

Chapter 6 - On The Run: The Anti - Christ Must Be Protected

Charlie and Bess literally flew over the streets as they dashed to Jake's encounter. According to one of the angels that had helped them sneak out of the fight in Heaven, Jake would be informed about the coming danger so he'd be hidden in a safe place and wait for Charlie and Bess to arrive. The chosen place was an alley not far from Charlie and Itchy's old building.

"I hope Itchy and Sasha are doing fine against that monster..." Bess thought out loud, flying next to Charlie. "I can't believe Manfred would turn this evil! I knew he was bad news, but he crossed a line here; he's practically a demon now."

"Maybe not yet, but you're right; the guy is definitely a good candidate for Belladonna's team. And she must trust him a lot in order to give Manfred that much power." Charlie commented, none of them stopping their fast flight. "But don't worry; Sasha has a lot of experience with her powers, and Itch is pretty much a one-dog ninja army. I doubt Manfred will be able to beat them up. At least I hope that."

The flying duo finally stopped on Charlie's building, taking a look around from the rooftop to make sure nobody had been following them. Then, Bess made herself invisible and Charlie morphed into a cat, a shape he didn't like at all, but had the right size and agility to move unnoticed to the alley. There, they found Jake, who was hidden behind a dumpster and looking around for any sign of danger.

"Jake, it's me, Charlie." The pup looked at the approaching cat, as the feline morphed back into his normal canine self, and Bess made herself visible again. "And you already know Bess."

"It's truth then, Charlie? Belladonna is after me again?" Jake asked, feeling safe in Charlie and Bess' presence but still worried about everyone's safety.

"Afraid so, Kid. She even sent some naughty guests to the wedding to try getting rid of us so nobody could stop her." Charlie informed. Jake didn't go to the wedding precisely due safety issues, Annabelle fearing he could be attacked on the way to the gathering place, or, in the best (even if not precisely nice) case scenario, discriminated or feared by the other guests once knowing he was the Anti-Christ.

"We'll better get moving. It's too risky to stay at one place for too long. Anyone can find us if we're not careful." Bess said before an evil cackling got everyone's attention.

"So, you think I'm just an 'anyone'? How rude, Bess."

Charlie growled in anger while Bess moved aside a frightened Jake to protect him if necessary. None of them had realized there was a broken glass bottle in the dumpster, and it was still clean and complete enough for Belladonna to use it as a mirror.

"Cut the mocking, Belladonna, or I'll recycle you." Charlie glared at her.

"How funny you mentioned recycling, Charlie; I might be evil, but even I think we must do our best with whatever we have at hand, or paw, and fix anything that can still be used." Belladonna smirked at the group.

"That's why you changed Manfred into an evil servant? You recycled him and turned him into a monster?" Bess growled as well.

"Oh, my dear girl, I consider myself an artist; the best sculptors will tell you they don't really create the statues, just liberate the figure trapped inside the rocks they work with. I didn't make Manfred evil; I just shaped his evilness into something that I can use against you, and he's very happy with the result." Belladonna grinned. "And he's becoming a very talented artist by his own; he's already shaping his own masterpieces."

Charlie, Bess and Jake looked up at the rooftops of the buildings forming the alley's walls when hearing metallic noises; they gasped when looking at a trio of robotic canines that, despite being mostly emotionless, still looked at them with predatory intentions.

"You remember the Wild Pack, Charlie and Bess?" The group turned at the alley's entrance, spotting a very smug Manfred. "They decided to join the party, but since they had no gala clothing, I had to provide them with some. Hope you like the design; I've heard it's a real killer."

The silver robot released a bomb from its chest, that exploded over the angels and Jake. Bess formed a protective energy shield over them, and the bomb exploded without causing any harm but releasing massive amounts of dark smoke.

"Bess, open the shield!" Charlie commanded. When Bess did it, Charlie unleashed a powerful gust of wind to clear the air, knowing it would be dangerous not to see their attackers. Unfortunately, this also left them unprotected, and by the time they could see again, Jake was no longer with them, but at Manfred's mercy, the evil canine using his spear and cable to catch the pup; for once, he didn't use the spear in a lethal way, but being a living weapon, it found its way through the smoke and tied up Jake before pulling him away from his protectors.

Charlie and Bess rushed to attack Manfred but the red and yellow robots stood on their way, the yellow one shooting an energy net against Bess while the red one revealed a pair of rocket launchers from his arms/front limbs, aiming them at Charlie.

Bess used her intangibility to phase through the ground and escape the net while Charlie morphed into a rabbit to dodge the shots and charge at the red robot, changing back to normal while hitting it with a fire attack that his enemy resisted well. Both the yellow and red robots tried to charge again at Charlie but Bess emerged behind them and shot them with spectral blasts, stunning the robots by the moment. Unfortunately, the silver robot appeared out of nowhere and hit her from a side; Charlie shot a blast of Light Power against him, making this robot to explode with enough force to send Charlie to the back of the alley. Bess, still resenting the previous attack, thought this would be enough to stop this particular enemy, but yelped in surprise when it reformed almost immediately without any visible damages in the armor. The 3 robots then attacked Bess, who had to use a very clever timing for her intangibility, flying and spectral blasting powers in order to protect herself.

Charlie, a bit recovered from the explosion, charged at the robots, trying to assist Bess by shooting another energy blast, this time aiming at the yellow attacker, but Manfred, still holding Jake, stood on the way. Charlie gasped, fearing the blast would hurt the pup, but got a very slight relief when Manfred absorbed the attack, not hurting Jake at all but, unfortunately, giving Manfred another power-up.

"Come on, Charlie, let Bess have fun with her dancing partners. We can chat on the meantime." Manfred grinned while using his free paw to shoot ice and destructive blasts at Charlie, who countered them with his own attacks yet didn't dare hitting Manfred directly out of fear of hurting Jake by accident and knowing this would make his enemy even more powerful. Charlie then got an idea; he charged against Manfred as if trying to ram him.

"Hah! You think you're strong enough to hurt me with that?" Manfred mocked Charlie while charging a big green orb. The villain threw it directly at Charlie's head... without really hurting him, since Charlie morphed his whole body into Heavenly Steel at the last moment. The guardian angel, without stopping running, headbutted Manfred, actually hurting him this time, and making his cable to release Jake.

"JAKE, RUN!" Charlie, still in his metallic form, struggled with Manfred to keep him from grabbing Jake again. The pup hesitated for a moment but eventually obeyed and ran out of the alley.

"Red, get the pup!" Manfred commanded his robots as well, and, while the yellow and silver ones continued battling Bess, the red one gave chase to Jake.

The pup realized he was being chased almost immediately, and, knowing he wasn't fast enough to escape in a direct run, used his little size to his advantage, running under the cars parked on the street so they would be an improvised shield against the robot and himself. This only gave him a minor advantage, as the red robot started blasting, tearing apart and/or stomping any car parked on his way while chasing Jake; the only reason he wasn't attacking Jake full force, something that would probably destroy the whole block, was the fact that Belladonna needed the pup to be alive, at least for now, in order to access his powers and force her way out of Hell.

Jake soon ran out of parking cars, or any other hiding place, and the red robot used his speed and agility to jump and land right in front of him. Jake paled in fear as the robot's claws moved towards him.

"Get away from him!"

The robot reacted when hearing a female voice; he turned back and revealed his missile launching chest again. However, this time he couldn't shoot because a large, elastic band wrapped itself around the chest, closing the shooting door while the missile was still ready to be shot.

"Jake, duck and cover!"

BOOM!

Jake jumped out of the way just in time.

Back in the alley, all the fighters stopped the battle when hearing the explosion. Manfred growled in annoyance.

"Stupid... if he killed the pup, I'll reduce him to scrap metal!"

A second later, the charred remains of the red robot landed in the middle of the alley, with a huge hole in the chest, as the missile was activated without a way out of the launcher and therefore exploded inside the metallic body.

"Hope you don't mind I already did it!" Sasha, the one who threw the robot's remains, appeared on scene, her fists growing to gigantic size as she charged at the other 2 metallic enemies. Bess lost no time to turn herself intangible, and before the robots could attack Sasha, the elastic canine shot her fists at them, her rubber-like limbs providing an impressive force. Besides punching the robots, Sasha also pushed them to the back of the alley, Charlie and Manfred separating from each other when moving out of the way; the metallic villains got impacted against the alley's back wall, the armors completely ruined by the hit.

Manfred growled and made his spear grow to a very large size in order to stab Sasha, but Itchy jumped over him, the Dachshund falling from the nearby rooftop, and giving Manfred's head a powerful roundhouse kick that sent him against and through the wall.

"Good you guys could join us." Charlie said to both Itchy and Sasha while the German Shepherd started recovering his breath from the last fight.

"Sorry we couldn't arrive sooner. Luckily, we finished with the remaining wolves and one of Annabelle's assistants sent us here." Sasha said to him.

"Great. Okay, time to finish this." Charlie then looked back at Bess. "Bess, you take Jake out of here. If we can't stop Manfred, your ghost powers are the best option to hide the little guy and yourself while we come up with a plan."

"Got it." Bess nodded and, after giving Itchy a fast kiss, dashed at Jake's side, carrying him away while using her ghost abilities to turn him and herself invisible. Even Belladonna would have problems finding them now, since, having no reflection, they'd not be detected by any mirror.

Manfred, inside the abandoned building that Itchy's attack sent him in, recovered from the kick and stood up, ready to continue fighting, but found himself surrounded by the remaining guardian angels.

"So, Bess left, uh? Okay, I'll get her later." Manfred growled while his body temperature increased. "On the meantime, I'm gonna cook something... three hot dogs."

Manfred used his fire breath, flaming against his 3 enemies; Itchy protected himself with a summoned shield, Charlie with a gust of freezing-cold wind, and Sasha by bouncing out of the way. The elastic gal used this move to change herself into a ball shape, and do a ricocheting attack, bouncing on all the walls around the group and hitting Manfred several times when moving from one wall to the other, similar to a rubbery cannon ball. Manfred, furious but still strong enough to fight, shot an ice attack at Sasha but it got intercepted by Charlie's light energy blast, and couldn't freeze Charlie either because Itchy gave the Boxer a powerful Kung Fu combo that took him down. Manfred tried stabbing Itchy with his spear but the agile Dachshund jumped out of the way, giving Charlie the chance to attack Manfred with a metallic fist. The villain resented the hit but his helmet gave him enough protection to not falling unconscious; he tried to stab Charlie as well but now the elemental canine's full body was protected by a metallic coat; even if Charlie still felt the spear's attacks, due to all the power Manfred had stolen, the metal was resistant enough to stand most of the impact and it blocked the spear's energy-draining effect.

Out of the corner of his eye, Manfred spotted Itchy charging at him with the Tonfas, and the evil dog changed himself into smoke to avoid it and also get some distance between his attackers and himself. However, he didn't see Sasha, expanding her body like a gigantic rubber blanket, ready to pounce on him from the ceiling. Once Manfred was away from Charlie and Itchy, Sasha made his move, covering the smoke with her body and trapping Manfred just like a vacuum cleaner's bag catches dust. Manfred tried to escape but Sasha's body had no openings so his smoke form was unable to get out, forcing him to change back to solid and try to injure her body with his other powers. However, the moment he became solid, Sasha opened one portion of her body, revealing the Boxer's face to both Charlie and Itchy, who made a coordinated yet furious metal fists and nun-chucks attack, hitting Manfred more than 50 times before the Boxer himself could realize what was going on.

In desperation, Manfred unleashed a large blast of his destructive green energy, strong enough to send his attackers away, but Sasha's body had protected Charlie and Itchy's from most of the force, and her elastic body, being so resistant to impacts, was mostly fine and she only got a little stunned. Manfred shot several icicles attacks around him, his vision so blurred due the previous hits that he had no aim at all and he just hoped one attack would hit the heroes by shooting enough of them at random. Charlie made this plan to backfire when forming a tornado wind around Manfred, catching all the sharp icicles and sending them back to the Boxer, hitting him several times and even wounding him a bit.

"Why would you give away your soul to Belladonna, Manfred?" Charlie yelled during a momentary pause in the hostilities, giving Itchy and Sasha the time to recover themselves, and giving himself a minute to see how damaged was Manfred right now due to the previous icicle hits.

"Yeah, why would you do that for?" Itchy yelled as well, while getting a strategic location at one of Manfred's sides. "She's just using you. Once you're no longer useful for her, she'll throw you away like a flea on her back!"

"I know she's the one in control, Morons... just like you all are at Annabelle's service... and just like she did with you all, Belladonna is giving me what I want... Power." Manfred growled while rubbing his wounded side. "And the chance to use it for something I'd die for."

"What for?" Asked Itchy.

"The opportunity to make you suffer... to make you die... all of you...you personally Itchy." Manfred smirked. "Oh, yeah... if I had a hundred souls, I'd give them away for that chance."

"Me? But, what for; what did I ever do to you, Manfred?"

"You stole Bess away from me... she chose an inferior being over me! If you were a dog I could respect, a tough, powerful one, I'd have eventually accepted it... but even with your abilities, you're weak; you care about others... you use your powers for pointless heroics like helping people... PEOPLE! You don't mind risking your fur for stinking humans or even for low species like cats, or dogs born without a pedigree... This world, Itchy... ANY world... was made for the strong ones to rule it... but you and the other imbecile no-gooders try to give the weak ones the place only us, the strong ones, rightfully deserve." Manfred gave Itchy the most furious glare he could.

"Bess chose me because I treated her with more respect than you ever did, Manfred; you treated her like she was your property instead of another dog with her own rights, ideas and feelings!" Yelled Itchy, ready to get back to fighting the moment Manfred attacked again. "Power doesn't give you privileges; you gain them through hard work and sacrifice, and when you get those, you also have the responsibility to use them wisely! Otherwise, you don't become 'Superior' or 'Better than anyone else', but a glorified bully. That's what you are, Manfred; a schoolyard bully who got lucky enough to gain power yet not smart enough to use it for something besides hurting others!"

"You think you're any better? What about you hanging out with this trouble-making mutt?" Manfred gave Charlie a quick look without stopping talking to Itchy. "I bet his parents abandoned him because he was weak and stupid, or maybe his parents were the weak and stupid ones, so they gave up on trying to raise him."

"Oh, and now you're messing up with my family, Manfred?" Charlie frowned. "What's next; 'Yo Mama' jokes?"

"No, because I don't think you're even worth it, Barkin, because you were never worthy of your parents' time or mine." Manfred said in a venomous tone. "I don't lose time talking with the garbage."

"Well, I do, so please, continue." Charlie smirked, grinning a bit at Manfred's furious face when he insulted him. "You realize you're trying to mess up with our confidence and try to look braver yourself by using some silly insults? Newsflash, Manfred; we're all street dogs; you think we hadn't heard others insulting us more than once? Please, I've been insulted worse by little pups who didn't know better. And the only one you're actually insulting here is yourself; every time you bark, you are only insulting your own intelligence... heh, then again, you work for Belladonna. To do that, you must have kitten litter box's disposal for brains."

Sasha and Itchy, knowing Charlie's mentality, realized he was trying to make Manfred angry, something that would make the villain to commit mistakes or, at least, waste his energy in useless attacks, and apparently it worked, since Manfred, growling in fury, summoned a powerful storm cloud to start attacking them with lightning... a big mistake in this case since Charlie, having a metallic form at the moment, was a living lightning rod, attracting most of the electricity to himself and sending it against the floor, giving Manfred a shock with his own power (something the magical helmet couldn't absorb). Sasha, having a rubbery body, was voltage resistant, and once she grabbed Itchy and kept him away from the floor, they were both safe from the lightning attacks.

Manfred, howling in pain due the electrical attacks and the previous wound, made the cloud to disappear and, before he could come up with another attack, Itchy threw a series of shurikens against his head, hitting the helmet so hard in the right spots that it eventually fell down. Manfred tried to get it back but had to forget about it and jump out of the way when Itchy threw one of his giant shurikens; however, Manfred wasn't the intended target but the column behind him. Once the shuriken hit it, the column fell down, along with a good portion of the ceiling, that fell over Manfred. The villain, no longer having a helmet to protect his head, and now resenting the fight, got badly damaged by the impact, yet still emerged from the debris to continue fighting... only to receive a rubber mallet attack on his face, courtesy of Sasha, followed by one of Charlie's wind blasts that sent Manfred the other side of the room and even more far away from the helmet, that, anyway, was buried under the ceiling's debris by now.

"It's over, Manfred. Give up now before you need to spend a fortune with the veterinarian." Charlie said to the villain, as the 3 guardian angels approached their fallen foe.

Manfred, barely having any energy left, and with so many injuries by now that it was obvious he would faint at any moment, managed to stand up and growl softly at his foes.

"If... I lose... you three will... lose... as well..." Manfred said while summoning the largest green orb he had made so far, basically using all his remaining energy for this.

"Manfred, stop, you're gonna kill yourself!" Sasha said, no longer angry but worried; Itchy and Charlie had similar faces, all of them realizing how powerful this attack would be.

"If... I take you with me... I DON'T CARE!" Manfred threw the orb as far as he could. He didn't really care if it hit any of his enemies; the result would be the same.

**BOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Everyone in a ten streets radius heard the loud explosion, followed by the proper noises of a falling building. Manfred's orb was so powerful it worked perfectly as a bomb, reducing the building to debris in a split second.

About 5 minutes later, a section of the debris started moving, and then a metallic fist broke a large portion of it, revealing Charlie's body. The German Shepherd got out of the debris and then pulled Itchy out as well, the Dachshund being behind him all the time. Finally, they both pulled Sasha out, the elastic girl being the one who saved them all when the building fell down; once Itchy protected his friends from the explosion with the largest shield he could summon, Sasha transformed herself into a large, thick dome, big enough to cover both Itchy and Charlie, and resistant enough to stand the several tons of debris falling around them.

"Are you guys okay?" Sasha asked the males before they all gave a general look around the building's remains.

"My ears are still ringing and I have dust in areas I didn't even know, but yeah, I think we're all fine; good thinking, Sasha." Charlie congratulated his wife, the couple smiling at each other while Itchy used his super nose to try finding the place where Manfred was buried.

"I can smell him under this section... mmm... but... I can't smell his whole body... just traces..."

"Uh... guess that means his body got... well..." Charlie guessed, getting an uncomfortable expression that both Sasha and Itchy shared a moment later.

"It was his choice." Sasha sighed. "I know he was our enemy, but I feel bad for the guy."

"Yes... hate corrupted him completely, and Belladonna took advantage of that." Itchy sighed as well.

"I guess we no longer can do anything here. Let's go see Bess and Jake." Charlie suggested. "Besides, I wanna contact the angels to see if Annabelle is getting better. She wasn't on her best shape when we left."

The dogs left the place as fast as they could, especially when hearing the noise of several police cars and the fire department coming to see the destroyed place.

None of them could imagine that, when they were fighting Manfred, there was a broken yet still functional mirror not that far from the Boxer... and that he was no longer on Earth.

Manfred woke up when the intense brimstone's odor hit his nose; despite its awfulness, Manfred found himself standing and even liking it a bit after inhaling a few times.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty."

Manfred finally full opened his eyes to see Belladonna in front of him. He realized that she wasn't inside a mirror or water puddle, and when he extended his paw, confirmed his suspicions.

"You... you are actually here, in front of me, Mistress?" Manfred asked, still not completely alert. "But how... I mean... you said..."

"That I can't actually materialize myself on Earth. I was telling you the truth, Manfred; and you're no longer on Earth." Belladonna moved a few steps back so Manfred could get a better look at his surroundings.

"I'm in... Hell." Manfred finally stood up, a bit shocked.

"Yes, the brimstone, the heat and the condemned ones' yelling are hard to miss." Belladonna approached him again, her protegee immediately remembering what had just happened on Earth, making him to respectfully bow in front of his mistress, avoiding eye contact.

"Mistress, please, forgive me; it wasn't my fault... it was Charlie Barkin's. He and his long bodied friend, and his ridiculous rubber mutt of a wife, caught me off guard and overwhelmed me." Manfred replied in an almost begging tone but then stopped himself and looked at Belladonna's eyes, the Boxer getting a less submissive pose yet still keeping his ears and tail down. "No... it wasn't all their fault... I mean, yes, those meddling mutts ruined the plan... but I should have done a better job myself. I know I failed... and I'll take whatever punishment you decide, My Mistress."

Belladonna studied him for a moment before nodding and talking in an angry yet not exactly hateful tone. In fact, more than a furious employer, she sounded more like someone angry with a friend yet still not cutting off that relationship.

"I'm very disappointed at your failure, Manfred... but I can't hate you for failing since, I admit, I've failed myself many times when facing my cousin and her protegees. I also can confirm I made a very good choice with you, since, at least, you have enough guts to admit your part of the fault and actually accept a punishment, that you certainly deserve." Belladonna then got a sly smirk. "I can still use you for other plots and schemes; I'll call you for that when I get to plan them. On the meantime, your punishment will be staying here on Hell, with me, and do anything I want. Your main obligation, right now, is to please me at any time I decide, and do it at your top capacity."

Manfred then realized Belladonna's face was barely a few inches away from his own, and they had been staring at each other's eyes since she started telling the conditions of his 'punishment', that didn't sound severe at all... or even as a real punishment. The Boxer grinned and nodded back at her.

"I live to please you, My Mistress."

"Then, come with me, Manfred. Your Mistress requires your services at her living quarters." Belladonna, giving him a seductive glance, started walking away, leading Manfred to her own private rooms, where no other demons were allowed, even those with an authority that was equal or even superior to her own.

"_I might still hate Itchy for stealing Bess from me... but I definitely no longer feel a thing for her. I finally found a real gal; I don't even care she's my superior. I can accept any order from her without feeling weak myself. And I'm more than eager to 'compensate her' for my failure." _Manfred thought while following her, a sly grin forming in his muzzle.

"_Well, guess this plan wasn't a total waste of time. I lost the Anti-Christ, and I'm still trapped in here, but I got a competent servant out of this... and if he's as competent in 'other areas' as I expect, I might actually... admit he is more than a simple servant to me." _Belladonna thought as well as they finally entered her bedroom, the devil dog using her powers to create a barrier around them that wouldn't allow anyone to see or hear them.

One minute later, Belladonna and Manfred's outfits were thrown out of the room, and the barrier turned out to be a very good idea, no demon or condemned soul noticing their activities through the several hours these lasted.

A demon gal and a magically empowered guy could be incredibly noisy when alone at the same room.


	7. Epilogue

Chapter 7 - Epilogue

Back in Heaven, the guardian angels sighed in relief when Annabelle herself received them; in fact, it was her who created the portal that transported them.

"How are you feeling, Annabelle?" Bess asked her.

"Much better now. Luckily, I got a good energy transfusion, and recovered in no time." Annabelle told them.

"Energy transfusion?" Charlie arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, and I was the donor."

Charlie cringed a bit when recognizing the voice coming from behind him. Then, he and the others turned to see a Doberman approaching them.

"Lance?" Itchy asked. "I thought you were in Antartica."

"Yes, I was, and I worked just fine with the penguins... but when my angel colleagues informed me about the attack on our dear Annabelle, I asked them to transport me here so I could give her part of my body energy so she'd recover faster from the attack." Lance explained before taking out a book Charlie and Itchy knew too well. "According to the newest edition of the Guardian Angels' Manual, the best way to counter an attack from a Hellish Protegee is with a Heavenly one's energy."

"And it worked quite well, Lance." Annabelle said to the Doberman before turning back at the other guardians. "I recovered just in time to watch your fight against Manfred. You all did an excellent job. And I'm glad to inform you that Jake is currently at a safe location where he'll be safe from any further Belladonna's attack, both from her and her protegees."

"Where?" Sasha asked.

"A sanctuary in France; it has a natural spring filled up with pure holy water. Any demon entering that place would burn instantly." Annabelle informed them. "This will also keep Jake's dark powers under control, so he can develop his moral and conscience, and eventually turn that energy into a force of good."

"You mean use the power of Hell against Belladonna and whatever pupil she gets?" Charlie asked, enjoying the ironic idea.

"Exactly. Keep in mind that demons, at least the most ancient ones, were originally angels that fell from grace when revealing against Heaven; in other words, their power and ours have a common origin, meaning it can be used for good if done the right way, just like Heavenly Power can be used for evil if used by a bad person or dog." Annabelle explained.

"Like that time when Carface made a deal with a demon to steal Gabriel's Horn?" Itchy asked, making reference to the first time both he and Charlie participated in a Heavenly mission.

"Exactly, Itchy; the power of good being corrupted by evil." Annabelle sighed before smiling again. "Luckily, things work the other way if done right. Also, about Belladonna's protegees... she'll not get new ones any time soon."

"Because of Manfred's failure?" Sasha asked.

"No, because she still has a living, functional protegee." Annabelle's comment made everyone gasp in surprise. "Yes, Manfred is alive; I sensed how Belladonna used her power on the building you guys were fighting in, and it was a teleportation spell. Right now, Manfred isn't as powerful as when you fought him, since he spent most of his energy during the battle, and even if Belladonna grants him new abilities, he'd still need time to build up enough strength to face you again."

"But he might still return in the future." Itchy groaned while the others shook their heads and got uncomfortable expressions.

"That guy is a like a cockroach infestation; you get rid of them, but they find a way back after a while." Charlie frowned.

"Not a very favorable comparison, Charlie." Lance said to him.

"Yes, you're right; I didn't mean to insult the poor bugs." Charlie replied.

"Well, we had enough problems for a day. See the bright side; if you could survive this, then whatever problem we face as a couple will be a piece of cake." Sasha smiled at her husband, Charlie grinning at her before kissing Sasha's lips.

"Heh, you're right, Sasha. And now I realize we're late for our reception..." Charlie paused. "If we still have a place and guests for it."

"Oh, don't worry, Charlie; my angels can arrange a nice place for the reception and get the guests back, and then we'll take you two to your honeymoon." Annabelle offered. "Now, go with them so you can be transported."

The 2 couples obeyed, Lance staying with Annabelle, the Doberman waving bye to them.

"Enjoy your reception, Charlie and Sasha, and congratulations." Lance paused when Annabelle placed a paw on his shoulder.

"You're coming too, Lance. After all, I'll be at the reception too, and I don't want to be the one dateless gal in the whole party." Annabelle smiled at the Doberman, who got a happy expression.

"I'll be honored to escort you, Madame." Lance saluted her. "Or is 'Maidemoiselle'? It would fit because you're single, but 'Madame' is a more respectful way to refer to a superior rank's female..."

"Lance, this is a direct order. Relax." Annabelle interrupted him; Lance was quite a good guardian angel, but sometimes he took formalities and regulations even more seriously than herself. "This is a party, and I'll be your date, so, please, just call me Annabelle, no 'Madame', 'Sir', or any other formal rank."

The Doberman nodded, and then the two of them went to the reception, Annabelle using her powers for mutual transportation, and making a mental note about probably giving Lance some special powers, as he was a brave and responsible guy who wouldn't abuse them and would use them for the greater good, and the only reason she hadn't done it in the past was due Lance's tendency of lecturing others and letting his success inflate his ego too much without him realizing it, so she had to be sure that making him a super powerful guardian wouldn't corrupt his heroic nature. Luckily for everyone, Annabelle had been monitoring his progress and calculated he was ready now to get those abilities, as long as she kept a close eye on him.

The reception was a very nice, animated one, and, not surprisingly, Bess caught Sasha's bouquet when she threw it to the single ladies at the party; considering Itchy's happiness when she did it, this made very obvious that, like tradition said, the gal catching the bouquet would be the next to get married.

As a wedding present, Annabelle transported Sasha and Charlie to Hawaii, providing them with a nice hut filled up with assorted food, a good sized bed, and easy access to the beach in a private location.

"I must say this about Annabelle; she really has an eye for good vacation spots." Charlie smiled while looking at the beach from the hut's door.

"Right now, I would like your eyes to be on me, Charlie."

Charlie turned back, smiling lovingly at his beautiful wife waiting for him at the bed, the female making seductive eyes at him.

"You have my full attention now, Sasha. Hope you don't mind if getting it all for the next few days." Charlie approached her, grinning while staring at her eyes.

"Come and show me your powers up close and personal, Mister Barkin." Sasha hugged him with her elastic arms.

"I'm up to the task, Mrs. Barkin, if you show me yours first." Charlie kissed her, and the only noises heard at the beach, besides the ocean's, was the loving sounds of the newly weds.


End file.
